- Jason Collett and his horse suffered a horror fall
- The jockey has since been praised for his actions
- Collett ran to the aid of the horse who was in some distress
Heroic jockey Jason Collett has been praised for his bravery and compassion after he and his horse suffered a horrific fall at Sydney‘s Royal Randwick Racecourse over the weekend.
Collett, 33, has also lifted the lid on what first went through his mind after the shock fall, with the jockey being seen immediately rushing to the aid of his horse Think About It after seeing the six-year-old geldling in some distress on the floor.
The incident had taken place while Think About It was rounding for home in the $2m Sydney Stakes on Saturday, with the Joseph Pride-trained horse worryingly collapsing.
The horse is understood to have suffered a pulmonary Haemorrhage during the race and appeared in some distress lying prone on the racetrack.
Collett had injured his shoulder in the fall but his first thought was the welfare and health of his horse, with the rider being seen running around to hold the horses’ head and stop the animal from getting back to it’s feet.
And opening up on the incident, Collett has now revealed his immediate reaction following the horror fall.
‘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.
Heroic Jockey jason Collett has been praised for his bravery and compassion after his horse fell on the track at Sydney’s Randwick racecourse last weekend
Collett was thrown from his horse mid-race but ran back to care for the flailing animal
Collett had raced round to Think About It and proceeded to comfort the horse and prevent him from getting back to his feet
‘Horses don’t generally survive that. I don’t know what allowed Think About It to survive this. I’m glad he did.’
After several moments on the track, Think About It rose back to his feet and walked back to his box, where the six-year-old was seen by a vet.
Following the vet’s diagnosis, his trainer Pride had made the immediate decision to retire the horse from racing.
Collet had also realised something was not quite right with the horse as the pair had turned the bend.
He then admitted that he had tried to pull the horse up, initially thinking that he may have injured one of his legs.
‘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.’
Fortunately, the horse is expected to make a full recovery after the incident with Pride admitting that he was left fearing the worst.
‘I have seen horses come down like that before, and they don’t get back up, unfortunately,’ veteran trainer Pride said.
Think About It had suffered a bleeding attack, but ended up making a ‘miraculous’ recovery
Jockey Jason Collett has been praised for his bravery after his mount crashed to the turf at the Sydney Stakes at Randwick last Saturday
‘I walked down the straight. It was about 400m metres up – just a slow painful walk, by myself. I was fearing the worst,’ Pride said.
‘But then I saw his head pop up above the screen. It was amazing. I just thought ‘Aahh, what a relief’.
‘I still didn’t know what was wrong with him but just the fact he was up on his feet was such a relief. The difference between him not leaving Randwick Racecourse, and him retiring a happy and sound horse, well, it was just a big relief.’
Pride though also paid tribute to Collett after the race, lauding him for his quick-thinking.
‘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,’ Pride added speaking on Collett’s actions.
‘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.’
New South Wales chief steward Steve Railton has also spoken out on Collett’s actions, claiming: ‘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.’
More to follow…