Austin in fairytale return

TALENTED reinsman James Austin celebrated his return to racing after a 12-month disqualification in the best way possible in Hobart last night.

Austin partnered the aptly named Long Ago to victory in a C2-C4 pace over 1609m for leading trainer Bern Yole.

It was a masterful drive but it was a blanket finish with three horses crossing the line together and the highly talented jockey was not sure whether he had won.

“It’s been that long since I’ve been in a tight finish that I didn’t know whether my horse had stuck his head out at the right time,” Austin said.

“I’ve been away from racing for about 14 months so it’s a fairytale result for me because a year ago I didn’t know whether I would ever make it back to driving.”

Austin was outed over a positive swab to methamphetamine and it was the second time he had been disqualified over drug use.

“I’ve been clean for over six months and been working very hard to get myself back into shape and I have definitely rediscovered my passion for racing,” he said.

Austin, 33, is married with four children and he says his time out of racing has made him realise there was no future in how he was living his life. “Using methamphetamines buggered me up a bit but I’ve been able to get myself back on track.

“And I’ve been doing everything I can to earn back some respect from everyone around me and that includes owners and trainers.

“I have to thank Ben Yole and a couple of other trainers who have supported my comeback — so it was nice to get that winner for Ben firstup.”

Austin had Long Ago settled four-back on the marker pegs, but halfway down the back straight he managed to slip into the one-out line and had the gelding three-wide and fully of running on the back of the pack as they hit the home straight.

In the straight he was forced to hold his three-wide line, but when a gap appeared 150m out he drove the gelded son of Life Sign into the hole and he went on to score by a half-head.

However, he was hauled into the stewards’ room after the race where he was reprimanded for his whip use, which was no surprise given the whip-use rules have change during his absence.

Austin also delivered a top drive aboard the Greg Scott-trained Witch Master ($26 into $11) in a C0-C1 over 2090 metres.

Witch Master finished fourth after being forced to make a long sustained run a lap from home.