STATHI’S 'PRESENCE' OVERWHELMS EAGLE FARM MEETING

By Graham Potter | Thursday, October 21, 2010

The spirit of Stathi Katsidis overwhelmed events at Eagle Farm on Wednesday.

There wasn’t a conversation at the track which did not include an expression of shock or disbelief at the rider’s untimely passing. There wasn’t one person who wasn’t affected in one way or another by the sad events of the previous day.

Many were momentarily stranded in time, totally lost, left helpless and devastated by the utter futility of it all.

The old saying, ‘the show must go on,’ was in play, but only just.

For Stathi’s fellow jockeys, as much as their professionalism shone through, this was clearly not a time and place where they would choose to be. They needed more time and space in which to grieve.

When the weather closed in and rain pelted down on the runners during the second race on the card, the heavens had offered the excuse that most had been waiting for. Maybe Stathi had turned on the tap.

The jockeys returned saying they could not see out there on the track. They took their concerns about visibility to the stewards, who concurred with their opinion and quickly abandoned the meeting.

I can’t recall a decision of such importance ever being made as quickly as this one. It is fair to suggest that the abandonment had as much to do with the sentiment in a jockey room still reeling with shock than it had to do with weather conditions.

Once made, the decision wasn’t ever a point of discussion … but all the while the comments about Stathi continued unabated.

Trying to interview the winning riders after the two races that were completed was a difficult and uncomfortable exercise.

Justin Wood, who won the first race on African Mama, was clearly emotional. This time the hug from his dad, Mark, was not about savouring success. It was about extending heartfelt mutual sympathy for their loss, because with Stathi’s death, everybody in racing had suffered a profound loss.

Fellow rider and brother Mitchell Wood also came to embrace the winning rider. There were no words. There didn’t have to be.

Clearly, this one was for Stathi.

Jim Byrne, who rode Panningen to victory, tried to tell me how the horse had travelled in the race and what it was like riding in the downpour, but his mind, understandably, just wasn’t focused on the subject.

There were more gaps than content in his commentary and so I left him to his private thoughts.

I didn’t go around like most of the press asking jockeys about what they thought of Stathi and how his passing had affected them.

Most riders were in fact happy to put those answers on record and many spent the greater portion of their time spent at Eagle Farm on Wednesday in doing just that.

Maybe it had some therapeutical value for them.

For me, I didn’t need to be told what a great rider Stathi was … and what an absolutely genuine bloke he was … or about all the demons that he had done battle with in the past.

We all knew that.

I also knew that, given his background, the cause of Stathi’s death would be the subject of much speculation.

Even allowing for the inevitable gossip, I have to state I have a very low opinion of those ‘holy’ enough to have reached certain assumptions without any bit of evidence … and of others who have offered some, to my mind, misguided views.

Just four days before his death, Stathi had given some insight into the battle his body faced on a daily basis to stay in peak trim as a champion race-rider.

In his personal blog, posted on horseracingonly.com.au on Friday, October 15, Stathi wrote, ‘As far as my own staying power is concerned, riding so much last season did take its toll on my body. Absolutely.

‘I have taken things a lot easier the last couple of months. I'm concentrating on being as fit as I can without stressing my body, by continually riding light.

‘Race days I need three to five hours for weight preparation before the races and two hours after the races for body recovery as well as weight preparation for the following day.

‘My natural body weight is 58 to 60 kg when I'm fit and healthy.

‘People see me riding 53 kg and sometimes 52 kg, and think why can't he ride my horse this week at that weight.

‘Like most jockeys my natural weight is ten percent higher than the riding weights. So all year round I stay on a sensible diet to keep my weight around 55-56 kg, then I sweat in the bath to the weight I have to ride.

‘I lose 2 kg the night before the races and 1 to 2 kg the day of the races.

‘I take various different vitamins to keep me at my strongest. I've been doing this for a long time now, and my body is used to it.

‘I get to the races feeling very well. If someone that wasn't used to losing this amount of weight did this they wouldn't feel very well.

‘You can only keep your body that low for so long. I was able to do it for twelve months and I’ve giving my body that little bit of a break now.’

So, as you can see, there doesn’t have to be anything sinister about Stathi’s death.

I won’t join the speculation beyond saying that, with such a strict regime, his body was always under the sort of intense pressure where the introduction of just the slightest imbalance could have produced a critical result.

There is no good outcome when determining the cause of Stathi’s death, but I believe we should keep an open mind, unlike those who seem to be able to take the ‘I told you so’ route with such an easy stride.

The other point that needs to be made is that, whatever the breaking news surrounding his death in the coming months, Stathi did not let anybody down. To even suggest that is outrageous.

Stathi gave those around him unconditional support and those who supported him, if genuine, would have done so in similar vein. There were no guarantees for anyone … just as there are no certainties in racing.

One last memory from the Eagle Farm meeting.

The most poignant moment of all was when race-goers were asked to observe a moments silence for Stathi.

This was just as the runners were leaving the parade ring before the first race. So it was that, as racing enthusiasts stood with heads bowed as a mark of respect to one of their favourite sons, the silence was broken only by the dull thud of hoof-beats as the runners, with jockeys wearing black armbands, cantered to the start.

Could there be a more fitting background to the memory of the rider?

The sound that was in Stathi’s blood, punctuating each individual’s memory of Stathi was a very special moment. It was as eerie as it was becoming of the occasion. Any human planning could not have orchestrated it so well.

Stathi would have approved.

Lastly, the question has to be put … can we turn Stathi’s death into a positive for the future of racing?

The answer lies in the Jockey Club’s willingness, or otherwise, to take new evidence on the lifestyle they force upon jockeys.

In almost every other aspect of life, political correctness has become the order of the day protecting rights to a ridiculous level. So why not bring some of that focus and emphasis to a subject which can benefit from the outcome.

Let’s talk about raising riding weights!

I fully acknowledge that raising riding weights is not an uncomplicated issue, but there couldn’t be a better time to have another look and its pros and cons.

We can’t hit horses more than a certain number of times anymore, but jockeys must still starve themselves and smoke themselves silly to their own detriment to have half a chance of making a living!

That doesn’t sound right.

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