Jockey Jason Collett has been praised for his actions in comforting injured racehorse Think About it as it lay prostrate on the Randwick turf following a horror fall at Saturday’s Everest meeting.
Think About It collapsed when rounding for home in Saturday’s $2m Sydney Stakes after he had suffered a “significant pulmonary haemorrhage”. The horse returned to his feet and walked off the Randwick track and is expected to make a full recovery.
Collett hurt his shoulder in the fall, but his immediate concern was to console the horse and prevent him from trying to return to his feet and bolting, which could have caused him to break a leg.
“I turned to the horse and feared he had done something to his leg, so I went to hold him down,” Collett said. “If a horse tries to run around on three legs, it’s not good at all.
“As I got closer, blood was pouring out of his nose. I knew there had been a haemorrhage, so I raced around to his head and held him down. I didn’t think he had long left.
“Horses don’t generally survive that. I don’t know what allowed Think About It to survive this. I’m glad he did.”
Collett’s actions were an instinctive response that trainer Joe Pride and racing officials said showed how much jockeys care for the animals they are riding.
Think About It falls at the rear of the Sydney Stakes field.
Pride said of Collett’s quick actions: “It’s all instinctual stuff when you get pelted off like that – your natural instinct is what it would be if you were in an accident, which is to check the person beside you. That’s the level of respect the jockeys have for the horses they ride, and they have to trust them. Otherwise they wouldn’t go out there and do what they do at speed.
“Jason has been around horses all his life. He wanted to comfort him. The vet looked at the horse again on Monday, the heart is good. Saturday was a pretty traumatic day for him, but he doesn’t seem to be scarred by it.”
Racing NSW chief steward Steve Railton said of Collett’s selflessness: “The prognosis didn’t look good from the time Think About It hit the ground, but Jason’s presence of mind to race around and get to the horse’s head to try and calm him and assist the horse was pretty noteworthy.”
As he was driven back to the mounting yard after the fall, Collett tried to avoid being in the background of any photos of the winner’s presentation because “I’ve never been covered in so much blood”.
“I noticed some footage of me and the horse started to get some air-time and on social media, which is cool because it’s good for people to see we really do care for the horse,” Collett said.
Collett also explained how he had tried to pull Think About It out of the race as soon as he realised there was something wrong.
“I went to slide forward to get closer to the speed from the 600m, but I just lost power,” he said. “A few strides later I felt he went amiss, so I started to pull him up. Initially, I thought he may have done something behind [in the hind leg].
“I tried to pull him up, but he got worse, and I kept saying to him, ‘Stay up, buddy, just stay up’. I knew we were getting lower to the ground, I knew he was about to go, and I was fortunate I could jump off in time.
Jockey Jason Collett was praised for consoling Think About It on Saturday.Credit: Getty
“When I started to ease him down, I knew I was already four and five wide. I didn’t think there was anything behind me, and the field had gone.
“Even when I jumped off, I hoped he wouldn’t fall my way and roll on top of me – I felt like I was watching him in mid-air and in slow motion once I jumped to see which way he was going. I landed on my shoulder, which is sore, but I was up quickly.
Collett will dust himself off and ride Pleasure Artist in Saturday’s Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick, while he had a lot of time for the Ciaron Maher-trained Force Red, which he rode to a 900m win at Newcastle last start.
“I think he’s got a bit more bottom to him than what everyone had seen – he’s pretty handy,” Collett said.
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