EVEN after more than six months out of the saddle, jockey Marlon Dolendo remains in the top half in the Northern Rivers Racing Association premiership.

A near-tragic illness means he won’t add to that total before the season ends on July 31, but next year holds great promise.

The champion rider of the 2008-09 season was sitting on 16 winners and aiming to take back the title from Coffs Harbour jockey Raymond Spokes when a visit to his doctor in December to check on a nagging abdominal pain saw a diagnosis of acute kidney disease saw his world came close to falling apart.

So severe was the damage it seemed likely he had reached the end of a career that had garnered more than 900 race victories including several at Group level while apprenticed to the Smith-Waterhouse stable.

Further tests revealed the illness was life-threatening and the search for a suitable transplant donor began. Initials tests of Dolendo’s extended family in the Philippines drew a blank until eventually, a match was found with his sister, Maria.

The operation is expected to take place at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital during August and the jockey has informed Sky Racing’s Andrew Bensley his primary aim is to be back in the saddle prior to Christmas.

“The doctors have said to expect being in hospital for around three weeks at least,” he said. “After that there’s a lot of medication and check-ups so that it’s all going good.

“But I’m hopeful for the best and they say that if it all comes together I can go back to the track in December and see how I go at riding track work.”

Dolendo hasn’t been given a guarantee about a return to race-riding as the medical clearances demanded by stewards will be decisive in the issue but he has made reaching the one thousand winner-milestone a priority.

“Riding is all I know and I’ve got a missus and kids to feed so I have to give it a shot,” he said.