I’ve come to terms with it

Former star jockey back in Tassie after tragic fall

TASMANIAN racing icon Bev Buckingham will return home to roost after spending the past 18 years hiding from an industry that once was her life source.

Buckingham was at the peak of her riding career when she was rendered a quadriplegic because of a race fall at Elwick in May, 1998.

With a diagnosis that gave her no chance of walking again, let alone getting back in the saddle, she pondered what the future might hold, until one day she discovered feeling in her hands and toes that eventually led to her being classified as a mobile quadriplegic.

“I am still classed a quadriplegic, but I can walk, and I am reasonably independent and better off than some others with my disability,” Buckingham

said. “Any sportsperson will tell you that he or she wants to retire on their own terms, but I had that privilege snatched from me while I was still at the top of my game.

“It was very difficult for me to even watch a race and when I did, I usually ended up crying and kept asking myself ‘why me’.

“I should have sought professional help to get me through the mental pain in the early stages, but I chose to try to do it myself, and I know now that was the wrong choice.

“I’ve come to terms with my life’s path and coming back to Tassie to live will be a huge step, but one that I know I have to take.”

About two years after the accident, Buckingham moved to Victoria with her parents, Joan and the late Ted Buckingham,

and they set up a stables and training operation at Benalla, about 200km north of Melbourne.

“I liked training, but it was extremely frustrating because I wasn’t able to do the things I wanted to do as far as riding the horses was concerned and issues with staff and other things involved with training made it too hard,’’ she said.

“I met a fella and I moved to Sydney for that relationship but when it ended soon after I just stayed where I was and concentrated on raising my daughter.”

Buckingham, 55, was an inaugural inductee into the Tasmanian Racing Hall of Fame in 2005 and six years ago was inducted into the Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame. She also is a nominee for induction into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Buckingham is a country girl at heart, and she said moving back to Tasmania would fill a void in her life.

Tara has been the driving force behind the move.

“Mum has spent all of my life looking after me, so now it’s time she started doing what’s best for her,” Tara said.

“She has told me so much about Tasmania and after spending some time here it is easy to see why she wanted to come home. I am really looking forward to living here, because compared to Sydney, this is heaven.”

Bev and Tara will attend the Tasmanian Oaks meeting in Launceston on Sunday before they return to Sydney.