The talented horseman, who began training horses 26 years ago after an illustrious 20-year career in the saddle, is awaiting an operation to replace his right shoulder with a plastic one following more than 40 race falls in jumps races.

Londregan, 62, told The Standard the operation was needed as he suffered continued pain in the shoulder.

"My right shoulder is totally buggered," the Colac-based trainer said.

"They'll have to replace the buggered one with a plastic one. I'm in pain every minute of the day.

"I hate taking pain killers but I take a few at night time to ease the pain and try to get a nights sleep.

"I had two horses in work and I could not continue training them because I couldn't ride them in trackwork because of the pain in my shoulder so I've send them to Eric Musgrove and my niece Rebecca Waymouth to train.

"I'm putting back in for my trainer's licence for next year but I'm not sure how I'll go with the plastic shoulder, if I can't ride trackwork I'll hand in my license. I'll have to do a lot of rehab to get the shoulder working again."

Londregan said his body was breaking down due to his race falls.

"From my first 15 race rides I had five falls," he said.

"The injuries have just mounted up over the years. I've been to Geelong to see the orthopedic surgeon Graeme Brown a few times over the last couple of years.

"He doesn't want to do the shoulder replacement just yet, but I've told him the pain is so bad he'll have to do the operation within the next few months. My back is also buggered I've had a few injections in it to manage the pain."

Londregan, who won the Warrnambool Grand Annual Steeplechases on Thackeray in 1979 and 1980 before winning in 1981 on Kaimoto was also successful on Brigade in 1985.

He trained Sovereign Ties to run second behind Sampan Man in the 2003 Annual.

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