Against all odds
Amidst all the Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) drama on Saturday another chapter in one of racing’s most heartwarming and inspiring stories of the season played out at Randwick.
As Torrens (Adelaide) crossed the line in the City Tattersalls Club Cup (Listed, 2400m), 43-year-old apprentice rider Jenny Duggan stood high in the irons, overcome by sheer joy and exhilaration, as the bay gelding galloped clear of the rest of the field to deliver the biggest win of her career.
“It’s amazing. I have never had a buzz like that in my life. It was crazy and one of those things I didn’t know I was doing and thought after it, ‘what did I just do?’,” Duggan said.
In May last year, while competing at the Scone Cup carnival, Duggan was almost killed in a racing accident after another horse clipped the heels of her mount and sent her spearing into the ground.
“It was a face plant so it was quite hard. I’m none the wiser, which is probably a good thing. I think it was more traumatic at the time for one of the stewards. He was only young and really distraught having to witness it.”
The mother of two sustained horrific injuries that saw her sidelined for more than a year.
“I fractured the vertebrae highest up in the neck that holds your skull in place. If that snaps, you are a quadriplegic. I also had three bleeds on the brain and a broken wrist and broken heel.”
After spending eight months locked in a neck brace and a gruelling year of intense rehabilitation, Duggan had a deep longing to get back on a horse again and she vividly remembers when that day finally came.
“I loved it. I still remember my first morning at trackwork. I could barely sleep the night before because I was so excited,” she said.
“When I got back on it was like I had never left. It was so bizarre.”
Duggan was born and raised in Sweden and grew up riding horses in her home country.
She’s had decades of experience riding trackwork in both New Zealand and Australia and joined the professional race riding ranks in 2012.
Since then, her career has been stop-start to say the least.
“I was injured in 2013 and had a knee reconstruction which meant a year off for recovery and then when I was about to come back I fell pregnant and had two years off and then when I was set to come back I fell pregnant again.
“I then had one and a half years off and was thinking that I might not come back and then I did and I had another fall and I broke my toe and was out for six months.
“I came back for six months and that’s when I had the fall that put me out for 14 months.”
After the horrific fall at Scone, she finally returned to race riding on June 14 this year. Four months on, and trainer Lauri Parker booked her for the most significant riding engagement of her life to ride Torrens in the City Tattersalls Club Cup.
“I was probably the most nervous I have been in a long time going to the races because I wanted to prove myself in the metro area,” Duggan said.
She certainly did that on Saturday and one of the first people to send her a congratulatory message was the young steward who was so deeply affected as he stood by her crumpled body the day she fell at Scone.
Plenty of her fellow riders across NSW were cheering loudly too.
“That’s what I love about racing so much, the camaraderie is so amazing,” Duggan said.
“Someone rang me to tell me that all the female jockeys in the room at Moree were cheering like crazy. It makes your heart sing to know that people are so happy for you doing well.”
Duggan’s determination to keep going has inspired many, not just within the racing industry, but outside of it, too.
“I have had a lot of women contact me to say I have inspired them. They say they have had their second baby and they want to come back to riding and I tell them that having a baby doesn’t mean you have to stop everything, you are just hitting a pause button.”
She will also be the first to tell you that her enduring spirit is fuelled by a love of the horse.
“It’s my biggest passion in life I suppose and it makes it so much easier doing what you love.
“I find them such fascinating animals with their strength, stamina and speed and I enjoy reading the horse and getting inside their heads. I have always been fascinated by how they work.”
Being female, says Duggan, has played to her advantage when it comes to understanding horses.
“I’m always all about trying to get inside their head and what they are thinking and you try and go the softer way and, being a mum, it teaches you a lot about how young individuals take to things.”
Now she has ridden her first stakes winner and taken a big step towards proving herself in town, Duggan is hoping opportunities will continue to come her way.
“At the moment we are just focusing on outriding my city claim, that’s my biggest goal so we will try and smash it out in the metro area now.
“Racing can be so up and down but with a lot of the bigger riders going down to Melbourne with the carnival, I will keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. That’s all you can do,” she said.
Duggan’s attitude has served her well so far. Numerous setbacks gave her every reason to probably pull up stumps long ago but she’s stuck at it.
She’s a shining example of where passion, resilience, and a deep love of the horse can get you, no matter what level you are playing at in the tough Australian racing scene.