Heroic jockey Jason Collett has been praised for his bravery and compassion after his horse collapsed mid-race 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 gelding 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 while kicking it’s legs out.
Collett had injured his shoulder in the fall but his first thought was the welfare and health of the animal, with the rider being seen running to hold the horse’s head and stop the animal from getting back to its feet.
Following the incident, Collett has opened up on what his first thoughts were after falling from his ride, revealing he had attempted to calm Think About It and stop the horse from getting back to his feet.
‘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.
Heroic jockey Jason Collett has been praised for his bravery and compassion after his horse fell on the track at Sydney’s Royal Randwick Racecourse over the weekend
Collett fell from his horse mid-race but ran back to care for the flailing animal
Collett had ran round to Think About It and proceeded to comfort the horse and prevent him from getting back to his feet
‘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.’
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 assessment, his trainer Pride had made the immediate decision to retire the horse from racing.
Collett 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 had been left fearing the worst.
‘I have seen horses come down like that before, and they don’t get back up, unfortunately,’ Pride said.
Think About It had suffered a bleeding attack, but ended up making a ‘miraculous’ recovery and was pictured walking back to the stables
Collett stated that he had also attempted to pull back on Think About It after realising something wasn’t quite right with the horse during the race
‘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 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,’ he 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.’
Some on social media applauded Collett for his actions, with one lauding his ’emotional intelligence’ and for being ‘so calm under pressure’
New South Wales chief steward Steve Railton has also hailed Collett, 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.’
And the praise for the jockey hasn’t stopped there, with some taking to X (formerly Twitter) to call him a ‘legend’.
‘It’s very unsettling to watch the animal in these situations, Well done to Jason for not leaving his post at this very distressing time,’ one posted.
‘It shows just how much love there is for these animals. Anyone who had handles a horse knows what Jason did was selfless. Risked himself to comfort the horse. Legend,’ praised another supporter.
‘Unbelievably brave and selfless. Talk about emotional intelligence. So calm under pressure. Congratulations Jason,’ added another.
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