THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - JOCKEYS COMMITMENT TO THE CAUSE CANNOT BE QUESTIONED

By Graham Potter | Sunday, December 14, 2014

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

Ryan Wiggins is right.

The Group 1 winning jockey got straight to the point when posting his opinion on social media earlier this week with regard to the difference in reaction to a death of a cricketer and the death of a jockey.

Nobody, not Wiggins or anybody else who supported his comments, wanted to detract in any way from the solemness of the Phillip Hughes tragedy and all wanted to remain absolutely respectful of Hughes and his family … as I do.

The points Wiggins highlighted within that respectful parameter were well made though … such as the fact that while the cricket fraternity were understandably inconsolable with the players given both time and the freedom to make their own individual choices as to when they would return to action, jockeys who lose a fellow rider, in Wiggins’ words, ‘are pretty much expected to turn up the next day and ride.’

Certainly, there has never been any action to abandon a meeting because a jockey had died in a race-fall the day before.

There is, of course, at least one logical reason for this difference.

A cricketer is not expected to die out on the pitch. Before that sad day at the Sydney Cricket Ground, few would have seriously suggested that any batsman was taking his life in his hands when padded up and strode to the wicket to take strike.

There is an inherent difference when it comes to a jockey.

Every rider, every time they are legged up onto a mount, knows that the most extreme of outcomes is possible if anything goes wrong out on the track … and it certainly does go wrong on occasions with consequences as tragic as the Hughes scenario.

With Hughes, the cricket world was shocked to a standstill. When a jockey dies, the racing world is reminded of its dangers.

I’m with the cricketers all the way in terms of the way in which they were allowed to grieve.

My feelings are with them so the difference in the way the worse-case scenario is handled between cricket and racing is not contentious, it is just as different as cricket is to racing.

But it does give real perspective the daily trials and tribulations of a jockey.

Personally, I can’t give enough credit to all jockeys, of all different levels of expertise struggling with different levels of fitness, who have the courage to step up every day to play their essential role in the racing industry in dangerous circumstances … and who then have to call on their resilience to carry on ‘as normal’ the very next day when disaster does strike.

Physically and mentally, commitment to the cause doesn't get much tougher than that!

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A reminder: This afternoon Buffering will attempt to claim a victory for Queensland in the Hong Kong Sprint.

At the time of writing Buffering, who will have Sunshine Coast Champion jockey Damian Browne in the saddle, is seventh in the betting market in the fourteen-strong field at fixed odds of $11 … that’s six points behind the ruling favourite Aerovelocity, whose fortunes will be guided by Australian jockey Zac Purton.

The Hong Kong Sprint is scheduled to jump at 16.40.

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