A JOCKEY BACK FROM THE BRINK: AN ABSORBING TALE IN WHICH DETERMINATION DEFEATS DIFFICULTY
By Graham Potter with Jason Hoopert | Friday, September 1, 2017
It was a milestone celebrated far away from the limelight.
On August 12 in a modest setting at Nanango on Cup day, Jason Hoopert rode his one hundredth winner since making his return to race riding following a fall at Kilcoy in July 2006 which left him with life threatening injuries.
That win was not without incident though as Hoopert’s mount, Lucky Ticket, suddenly ducked out after the post and threw Hoopert who literally came down to earth with a thud.
It was a scary intrusion into Hoopert’s moment of triumph, at once providing an unwelcome reminder of just what can go wrong for a rider in the saddle.
Hoopert is no stranger to the dangers that lurk on the racetrack. In fact, that is exactly what made achieving this target of on hundred winners all the more significant for the rider.
Given the challenges he has faced in the past, it really was an outstanding achievement.
Medical advice following that fall at Kilcoy all those years ago was that Hoopert would never ride again.
A broken arm, broken ribs, a punctured lung were the least of his problems in the aftermath of the Kilcoy fall.
It was the bleeding on the brain that was the main concern.
Thankfully, CAT scans cleared Hoopert of any lasting brain damage but, because of the critical nature of his condition, with confirmed bruising of the frontal lobe of the brain,he was put into an induced coma for eight days.
At that time the road back to good health could not in any way include any consideration of a return to race riding.
In reality, that option did not change for a long time after leaving hospital, but determination can carry you a long way and Hoopert’s story demonstrates a determination beyond anything that could reasonably be expected of a person in his circumstances.
It also shows that, like most of his colleagues in the jockey ranks, riders like Hoopert don’t do it for the glory.
They do it because of their love of their horse, a genuine affection which draws them back time and time again, sometimes even when it would have been far easier to turn their back and walk away from the sport.
Jason Hoopert told his story to HRO’s Graham Potter.
It is an absorbing tale.
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“The fall that threatened to take my life happened at Kilcoy on July 29, 2006.
“The fall was that bad that I was about to become the first jockey to win a premiership in a coma. That season was the first time they’d had a South East Queensland Country Jockey’s Premiership and I won that, as I say, while I was in a coma.
“It took me ten years to win it again but I did win it last year.
“For four of those years I was sidelined because of the injuries sustained in the fall. It took me the full four years to get back in the saddle which was an achievement in itself for me because the prognosis in the days immediately after the fall ... and even for a long time after the fact ... was that I would never ride again.
“The doctors said, no way!
“It was a long and difficult recovery. I used to have no balance. I’d just fall over for no reason. I’d get motion sickness in elevators. Cars were another story. I couldn’t travel at all.
“I got released from hospital on the condition that I went to the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit (BIRU) at Princess Alexander Hospital. I agreed to go there once a week for physio for as long as it took ... and it took one and a half years.
“That was shocking process for me to deal with but I know I would never have been able to make a comeback and be where I am now if I hadn’t done everything they wanted me to do.
“All I am saying is ‘doing everything’ was very tough.
“My balance ended up coming back and others things slowly improved as well but it still took another two and a half years (that’s four years in total) before I was in any position to get back to some form of riding.
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“So I came back.
"At first I was going to be happy riding track-work. I actually started working for Trevor Miller and I said, “how about I get clearance so I can ride the pony.” He just looked at me and said, “That would be a start,” ... and it just moved along from there. I never did ride that pony.
“I started riding track-work and I was happy doing that. I though, yeah ... this is cool. I’m back riding. I’m content. I’m fine ... but then, as the fitness started getting going and the confidence started coming back, I ended up doing a couple of jump-outs.
“Then I thought, come on now ... if we are going to ride then we might as well go the full hog.
“They made me jump through a lot of hoops before making a comeback. It was very traumatic ... neurosurgeons, CAT scans ... you name it and I had to do it.
“There were a couple of stumbles along the way with all of the different neurological and psychological tests I had to go through but they were never really anything more than minor setbacks because I was really determined to get things right.
“I was working hard on my own state of mind and my memory at the time. I’d been going to psychiatrists for the whole time, chatting to them about everything.
“Another thing I had to deal with was how my determination to get back to riding impacted on my relationship with my partner. I think she was never happy with the idea of me going back riding. She couldn’t go through it again and I understand that.
“When that relationship dissolved then everything was just flat-on, full bore ahead for me. It wasn’t the best of times but I just became so focussed on my riding.
“It still took a long time. Like I said, there were a lot of hoops to jump through but, understandably so, because I was pretty messed up in more ways than one back in the day.
“But, obviously, I finally did end up passing all of the tests and I was able to resume my race riding career. That was towards of 2010.
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“It probably was a couple of months before I got my first winner back, but I wasn’t taking many rides at first and people obviously were cautious about putting me on.
“In fact I didn’t get a reasonable number of rides for ages. People were thinking what is going on here.
“My first winner back was at Wondai in early 2011. I can't remember its name. I can remember that Monashee Mountain was my first winner back at Kilcoy in a 1500m race around the turn where I had my fall.
"I stood up in the irons and saluted halfway down the straight and then again at the post.
"The steward came in ... one of those who was there on the day of my bad fall ... and said, 'Jason, that salute was after the post wasn't it?'
"I said, 'yes sir.'
"He said, 'good, lets keep it that way.'
"That was all that was said.
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"Once I started proving myself like that a few of the old trainers I used to ride for ... mainly Lyn Paton and a few of the bush trainers like Ben Robinson who I used to ride for regularly ... they started putting me back on.
“In relative terms things took off quite nicely for me then. I was riding doubles at Toowoomba for Lyn Paton. I had my first winner in town (Mimix). So the winners just added up from there and the years passed.
“At one stage I was going that good that I was riding at least a winner a weekend ... sometimes two or three ... and I suddenly starting thinking that I must be getting close to riding a hundred winners since my comeback.
“I did a little rough count which didn’t sound right so I actually had to get some paperwork from RISA. When I did my count there I found that I was on ninety-nine ... and I thought, wow, I’m that close!
“Maybe I shouldn’t have looked because I couldn’t ride a winner after that. It took about another twenty four rides and a month and a half but then it happened at Nanango.
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“I had a good book of rides at Nanango that day and I thought, yes, surely one of these has got to win.
"The first couple raced alright but I wasn’t in the show. My second last ride drew off the track. I jumped out and we’d gone about 100m and here we were on the fence, two lengths back off the leader with me thinking how good is this!
“We turned for home. I made all the runs. I was screaming out letting jockeys know I was coming, weaving my way through, and we stormed home only to get beaten by a neck.
"I’m like, yeah ... sweet. We are getting closer.
“Then the next one ... we drew the outside again. A furlong into the race, here I am box-seat on the fence again thinking, yeah ... cool.
"Turned for home, rolled around them and just went straight past them like they were standing still.
“That’s how I got my one hundredth win since my comeback BUT THEN, after the post my horse ducked out ... exit stage left ... hit the running rail, slid along that for a while before it hit a dead-end and apparently I’ve just gone straight over the top, landed on my head and knocked myself out again.
“I came to thinking oh no ... Birdsville’s coming up. I‘ve got my big trip planned. This is it. I was not impressed.
"But in the end it was all good. I had win number one hundred in the bag and I only needed a week and a half off to recover from the slight shoulder injury that I received in that incident.
"For a bloke who was told he would never ride again getting a hundred winners on from that day at Kilcoy was a big deal for me.
"I couldn't be happier.
"Bring on Birdsville!"
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