MARTIN HARLEY HITS THE HEADLINES ... AND THE CHANCES ARE THAT HE IS ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, June 27, 2023

“It was no Royal Ascot, but it’s nice to ride five winners anywhere in one day, that’s for sure,” quipped Group 1 winning rider Martin Harley after he had given a masterclass performance in the saddle at the Rockhampton meeting on Sunday.

Harley, who was champion apprentice in the UK in 2011 and who has five Group 1’s wins behind his name … including a short-head win on the $20 outsider Goldream in the 2015 King Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot … only returned to race riding on May 27 following a fall at Doomben back on January 11.

“Considering we had only gone a hundred meters after the start and weren’t at full speed or anything, it was a pretty simple fall, but a pretty bad smash-up,” explained Harley.

“I had a broken shoulder. I had three broken vertebra in my neck … C0, C1 and C2 … and, yeah, a bit of bruising around the ribs.

“Like many jockeys, it wasn’t the first time it had happened to me. I broke my C1 and C2 before in a fall on the all-weather track at Lingfield in the UK … and I did my back many years ago when I was an apprentice, so, if there is any truth that things happen in threes, then I am well and truly done now.

“Obviously, I am thankful to be back and grateful for the support from a lot of good people.

“I don’t think the doctors expected me to be back in four-and-a-half months, but I’m here and I feel good. I’ve been working at it all of the time,” continued Harley.

“Even in the hospital, at one stage they said I couldn’t be discharged until I could climb a flight of stairs and walk on my own. They wouldn’t let me out until then … and I said, I can do that now.

“I was pretty determined to get out of there. The food’s not the best in hospital, so I wanted to get back to at least having a bit of nice food. So, I managed to climb the flight of stairs and got the green light from them a couple of hours later and I got signed out … so that was pretty good.

“Obviously, there was still a lot of work to do from there. I was in a halo for seven weeks, but I just kept working at it and I think I managed to stay ahead of schedule.”

Once back on the track, showing similar determination, Harley quickly signaled he was very much back in business with a win aboard the Barry Lockwood trained Sunfall in only his second comeback ride. Four rides later, it was the carnival ride that nearly silenced the grandstand and turned most betting tickets into confetti … but, in the end, Harley and his mount, the $101 chance Reo, had to settle for a well-earned second place in the Group 1 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm.

Those two results so early in his comeback … the win and the long-shot runner-up finish in The Oaks … not only emphasized Harley’s intention to take up from where he had left off before his fall (where he had been building significant momentum), but it also underlined his absolute capability of being able to do just that … and his Rockhampton blitz rubber-stamped that fact and placed an exclamation mark behind his credentials.

While he has ridden in multiple countries, Harley’s road to Brisbane ultimately came via Hong Kong, Melbourne and the UK.

He was offered a three contract in Hong Kong in December 2018 at the third time of asking (his previous two applications were rejected) and his first winner in Hong Kong was the appropriately named High Five.

That three month contract was extended by another three months after which Harley weighed up where he would go next.

“It was coming into the winter time in the UK and I was advised by a few friends … Hugh Bowman and Mark Zahra … to give Melbourne a go for a few months, so I did. It was nice weather … much nicer than England,” said Harley, taking up the story again.

“I had a bit of luck there. I won a feature race on Warning … who went on to win the Victoria Derby … so that was a very good experience. I think anywhere you can get experience in the world … Australia, Hong Kong, Japan … serves you well.

“The plan when I did land in Melbourne was always to return to the UK to Mr Gosden,” (John Gosden is one of the leading trainers in the UK) and Harley did that, but, away from his professional life, the trip to Melbourne was also going to provide the starting point for a pivotal part of Harley’s personal life moving forward … a set of circumstances that can be marked down as another big win for Harley.

“I met my fiancé in Melbourne,” said Harley. “Brittney is a Brisbane girl, and I met while I was in Melbourne.

“That’s almost four years ago now. She came back to England for a while … but lockdown separated us for eight months. We were eight months apart … but between falls, long distance and Covid … we stuck together through all of that. I think we were pretty solid.

“We’ve been tested plenty of times, but we’ve come through. I think if we’ve stuck through it all that well, we’ll get through the rest of it. We are getting married in September.”

So, from the worst of times following his fall in January, steadily working towards the best of times by being a winner both on and off the track, Harley’s professional journey over the last five months has played out as a victory for the power of positive thinking and of the persistence needed to physically work through the pain and discomfort barrier.

In the end, it all comes down to perspective … about what is really important in life … as fully acknowledged by Harley in the following example when reflecting on his two major falls which, in theory, cost Harley in terms of results.

His fall from Red Art at Lingfield meant missed the ride on Mount Athos in the Dubai Sheema Classic and his fall at Doomben saw him sit out this year’s Magic Millions race-day where he watched two of the horses he was due to ride … Alpine Edge and Centrefire … salute on the Gold Coast’s biggest race day.

“That was a tough watch from the sidelines in one sense, but you can’t really be disappointed,” said Harley.

“It’s all relative. When you have a fall and incur injuries like that, what rides you miss in the short term doesn’t really matter at all.

“That is not what is important. What is important is that you are able to recover and walk again … and get back to riding.

“That’s what I am grateful for… and I wouldn’t swop that for any ride.”

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