BROWNIES BLOG - READERS QUESTIONS ANSWERED

By Damian Browne | Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Damian Browne is rated right up there with the best jockeys in Australia. After severe injury setbacks which would have ended a lesser man’s career, this eleven-time Group 1 winning jockey has fought back against the odds to establish a solid reputation both as a person ... through the calm, confident and professional manner in which he goes about his business ... and as a rider, where he has built an enviable race record largely courtesy of his exceptional expertise as a horseman. Damian’s column, ‘Brownies Blog’, will appear weekly on Wednesdays ... exclusive to HRO!

Every now and then I will be dedicating a blog solely to answering questions from HRO readers.

I thought this would be an opportune time to get some of those questions out of the way before the Group 1 Brisbane Carnival kicks off this weekend as, once that happens, I will obviously be talking more about the action on the track than anything else.

So, here we go.

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Have you experienced bad moments where people have had a go me and how do you handle that situation?

Absolutely I have had moments where people have had a go at me ... as every jockey would have experienced ... but I am a firm believer in not worrying about things you can’t control.

People have got their own feelings and their own way of expressing them. Some people do it right there on the spot when they are upset. Some may do it the next day ... ring up and blow up after having a chance to think about it.

But really the part they are complaining about, on face value, happens so fast ... what happens in a race, emotions and monetary returns. You know they are generally talking from a particular perspective.

From my point of view you’ve just got to wash it off.

It’s like anything ... like a blow-up between jockeys. You have your little blow-up, but then you have got to move on. There is another race ... the next race ... and, from a rider’s standpoint, you’ve got to put that episode behind you.

I don’t mind copping a spray from owners or trainers, but if I’m riding a horse for the same trainer in the next race, I expect to have copped the spray and we’ve moved on. We’ve got another job to do.

When you get it the next day ... and the next day, and then three days later you are still copping it (I’m talking about from anybody, not just owners or trainers), I mean, once things are said they’re said and you’ve made your point, I don’t see the point carrying on.

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Trainers are known ‘suspend’ jockeys and not have them on for a while after a disappointment. Do jockeys ever ‘suspend’ trainers?

It does happen. It all depends on circumstances ... the point of disagreement and the way things are resolved.

It is just the nature of our industry that you get taken off a horse for some reason or other.

Sometimes it is the jockeys fault. Sometimes it is not!

On the other side of the argument jockeys have to juggle owners and trainers sometimes. If two or three horses that you would normally ride for them end up in the same race, you obviously can’t ride them all.

So, sometimes it is very hard to juggle and whatever you choice is you are going to upset some owners and trainers.

On both counts it is just a matter of how you smooth it over. Some people hold a grudge a lot longer than others.

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So who looks after your rides? Who is your agent?

Billy Goodwin is my manager.

He was a really good rider who became a paraplegic after a race-fall, the night before he was due to move to Sydney.

I never rode against him but, by all indications, he rode very similar to me. By taking on the role of my manager it has given him the opportunity to ‘ride’ through me.

We have very similar personalities as well, so we get on great. He has been looking after me for probably close to ten years now and we’ve never had a blue.

We’re the same, so he knows when to push me and when to leave me. He organises things, but we’ve got great communication about what is happening.

I think when you work with anybody in this industry, for it to go well, you’ve got to keep that communication going and we’ve done that successfully.

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Are you still restricted to a certain number of rides per meeting, as you once were, or is your schedule these days arranged more by personal choice?

It is more by choice. It is more a management thing.

If my body is feeling alright I might slip an extra one or two rides in.

Sometimes you will see me limping at the track. That is not a limp for life or anything like that, but it is a barometer of how I’m feeling.

Sometimes I’ll struggle to get through three or four. Other days I can probably ride half-a-dozen.

And the next day is pretty much the same. Some days are really bad. Other days I feel pretty good.

It’s to do with the weather ... and old age ... and all those sort of things.

Like I said, nowadays it is a management thing.

Till next week,

Damian

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