Robl visited a medical specialist yesterday to gauge how his body was healing from the effects of a race fall at Scone in January, when he suffered severe bruising to his spinal cord after being thrown from a horse.

He was buoyed to learn he did not require an operation on his neck but the news was tempered by the specialist’s prognosis that a return to the saddle carried too great a risk.

“He basically said, riding was out of the question because there’s no good result if you were to fall off,” Robl said.

“It’s what I expected. I could feel myself that my neck wasn’t right so I didn’t go in there with any expectations of getting told anything else.”

Robl had been helping Wendy Walter run the stable of her late husband, trainer Guy Walter, until she decided to take a break from the sport and transfer her team of horses.

He has spent the past week assisting trainer David Vandyke with his team of Segenhoe Stud-owned horses at Randwick.

The 42-year-old has expressed interest in pursuing a training career in the future, but it isn’t in his immediate plans.

However, Robl is keen to stay involved in racing, an industry he has been part of since he began his career as a 16-year-old.

“I’ve got a few options,” Robl said.

“Over the next couple of weeks I’ll have a think about things and see what I want to do and where I want to end up.” 

A gifted horseman, Robl spent much of his riding career based in the country before he was lured to Sydney seven years ago by trainer Clarry Conners.