THE WELCOME RETURN OF JASON HOLDER

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Two episodes in the life of Jason Holder - one euphoric, one catastrophic - occurred within days of each other in January this year.

Holder won the Magic Millions aboard Phelan Ready at the Gold Coast on a Saturday. Then at the very next midweek meeting in Brisbane, the rider fell head-first into the turf when his mount Oscar The Great crashed down at Eagle Farm.

The aftermath of the fall, from Holder’s disorientated, aggressive behaviour towards medical personnel on the scene, to his time in an induced coma, through a long period of rehabilitation to overcome life-changing and career threatening injuries, is now thankfully something that can be confined to the past.

Holder returned to race-riding at the Gold Cast on Saturday and rode his first winner (in only his fourth ride back) at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday.

Jason Holder spoke to HRO after his come-back win.

HRO: “We don’t want to go back. We want to go forward rather ... but your enthusiasm for getting back to race-riding. It must have been pretty hard work keeping focussed with all the work you had to do over such a long period?”

HOLDER: “Without a doubt. To be honest I had to change my ways in what I had to do. I never had an injury like this before. I used to probably eat what I wanted to and do what I wanted to do. But now, you know, to switch on and get back to where I was, I’ve just got to do everything different and make sure I am more focussed.

“It is a competitive sport. Nothing is a walk-up start, especially in racing as you know, and I just knew I had to be as focussed as I could be. I couldn’t come in half-hearted. Like, I couldn’t come in if I wasn’t doing my training properly and stuff like that. I knew everything had to be up to scratch ... because it won’t just come easy.

HRO: “That must take incredible discipline, because there must be an itch to get going and also a worry not to take things too fast.

HOLDER: “That’s probably a better word for it - ‘discipline’. I had to probably be more disciplined than I was before. I was getting all the good rides before and doing things the easy way. Things were flowing along. But now I’ve had to take a step back and go right, well, to get there again I’ve got to take these measures, you know.

“And there are other jockeys now who have bounced back and are going super. Katsidis and all of them ... you know what I mean ... Larry Cassidy ... they are good riders and now the trainers have got more options who they want to put on. So I’ve got to get to the stage where I remind them of where I was before.

“A lot of the trainers said oh, we’ll see how you come back first. But my first thing back to them was, I need your support to be able to come back or I’m going to struggle. Jason McLachlan (for whom Holder won the Magic Millions on Phelan Ready) said today that he would put me on straight away. I need his support and the others as well, you know.”

HRO: “So, in terms of coming back to competitive riding, how were you able to judge when you were one hundred percent? Did you wait and wait and wait until you were absolutely certain you were ready?

HOLDER: “Sure. I could have come back two weeks earlier. But I had the trials and I was disappointed how I pulled up. I said I can’t go to the races yet. My girlfriend said I shouldn’t worry about that. She said you just got to go back when you are ready.

“But that was good in a way, because then I just had to up my ante in the gym work that I was doing. So yeah, I had to wait ... but I couldn’t just wait. I had to up the ante. It worked out eventually and now I’m back.”

HRO: “Your first meeting back was at the Gold Coast on Saturday?

HOLDER: “I had three rides yesterday at the Gold Coast. I ran third on one, but I was more confident today. I suppose to get that race meeting yesterday off my back ... it was good.

“Admittedly I was nervous my first ride ... only because ... not scared of having a fall, but I just wanted to satisfy people who were watching me. Owners as well, you know. I don’t want them to go, should I have put him on or should I have waited first? I want them to say, that’s why we put him on.”

That’s why trainer Kelly Doughty put Holder on the first-timer Tierqualo at the Sunshine Coast meeting on Sunday. The grey, three-year-old was perfectly ridden by Holder and the gelding played his part by coming up with a race-winning performance.

It might only have been a Maiden Handicap, but the result was filled with importance. It announced that jockey Jason Holder was back and that he had lost none of the touch that has elevated him into the ranks of leading riders. It has got to be short-odds that support for Holder from trainers will grow quickly.

Whatever achievements lie ahead for the rider, none might be more noteworthy than his effort to get back in the saddle. It really is good to see him there.

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