Georgina ready to ride again
The Caribbean’s lone female jockey is confident she will reclaim her spot among the hottest tickets at the track when she resumes riding on race days.
THE CAYMANAS Park Georgina Sergeon left in 2012 has changed dramatically.
In two years, the all-conquering four- time champion Omar Walker now scraps for rides like every other jockey. Dane Nelson has become two-time defending champion since and is intent on remaining at the top of the heap.
Dick Cardenas is now first call for champion trainer Wayne DaCosta and Shane Ellis won’t let go of his seemingly cozy spot at Anthony Nunes’ barn. Paul Francis still commands good rides, five-time champion Trevor Simpson is on a revival and Percy Williams is back from the States, riding for Philip Feanny.
RECLAIM HER SPOT
Amid all, a squadron of apprentices, led by Shamaree Muir and Prince Holder, has become highly sought after by trainers looking to utilise their valuable claiming allowances.
Yet, the Caribbean’s lone female jockey is confident she will reclaim her spot among the hottest tickets at the track when she resumes riding on race days.
“I don’t consider myself having any threat. I (will) just go out there and do my best. You have people return after many years. It’s the background you left that will determine your future,” Sergeon said earlier this week.
“I have a good background. I am the only female jockey in the Caribbean to have won more than 50 races. I was among the top five as an apprentice when I left, right there with the big jockeys.
“I have that confidence. Where there is a will, there is a way,” she added.
Two years ago, January 21, 2012, tiny Sergeon disappeared beneath the thundering hooves of oncoming horses, as TRICKY TRAIN clipped heels with DOLLA WIN in a bottom-of-the barrel claiming race.
Double spinal fractures, lower back and groin injuries, two rods and seven screws later, she is ready to resume her career, after having a child in the interim.
“I started walking 14 days after surgery. I got the go-ahead from doctors in the middle of last year, but I had to work myself back in physically,” the 23-year-old explained.
She resumed gym work during the last week of September 2013 and was astride a horse by November.
“It was just a trot. I was just anxious to go out there, not scared. At first, I only worked two horses. A week after, I started getting canters and gallops. Everybody was
scared. They didn’t want anything to happen to me again. I now work horses everyday,” she pointed out.
Sergeon’s financial plight made national headlines during her rehabilitation and authorities who assisted her with costs were reportedly not enthused that she had chosen motherhood over a quicker return to the saddle.
“I don’t want to go there. The issue with them is personal,” she said, commenting on her having a second child last year.
There is also the matter of a reported frosty relationship with Omar Walker, who was aboard DOLLA WIN, disqualified for causing the fall of TRICKY TRAIN, but reinstated on appeal.
“I talk to everybody. We don’t get the chance in the mornings to communicate. We call to each other in the mornings, but not talk personally,” Sergeon said.
DaCosta hasn’t put her on any of his horses this weekend, but encourages her a lot.
“I am still in DaCosta’s camp, but I am open to other stables. He told me I left here with a bang and I am a good jockey. I am just to remain focused and work as hard as before.”