Waddell returns to ride after year-long ban
Jockey Jason Waddell will return from a lengthy suspension to ride at the Te Aroha trials on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old jockey is coming off a 12-month ban handed down last December after he was found guilty of acting detrimentally to the interests of racing and of improper riding.
They arose from an incident at an Avondale trial meeting in September 2015 after his mount severely interfered with a horse ridden by Samantha Collett.
Waddell has been working hard towards a successful return to the saddle.
He has been riding regular trackwork at Cambridge for a few weeks and returns with six rides at Te Aroha.
Waddell, the father of one child with his second due in May, believes he returns a better person and has overcome anger problems that dogged him.
‘‘Mentally I’ve learnt to deal with my demons and anger,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ve learnt how to deal with things a lot better and I’m understanding myself a lot better.’’
The last 12 months haven’t been easy for the former young gun of the jockey ranks.
An accomplished schoolboy representative soccer player, he returned to the pitch for the Cambridge club to ‘‘keep my fitness levels up’’. The rough and tumble left him with a broken leg.
‘‘I snapped my tibia and fibia and had steel rods inserted,’’ he said. ‘‘That put me on the sideline and I was getting pretty heavy.’’
A fitness regime followed which began in the swimming pool and continued under the guidance of a personal trainer, a dietician and a sports psychologist.
He is currently walking at 57kg and returns to racing full of determination and hope.
‘‘I’ve obviously made some bad errors of judgment in the past,’’ he said. ‘‘If I do anything silly again I know I won’t get another chance.
‘‘As hard as the last year has been, I’m better for it.’’
Waddell had a meeting last week with chief stipe John Oatham and the Racing Integrity Unit’s Andy Cruickshank to prove his fitness to ride and they granted him a licence to ride trackwork and at trials.
‘‘I hope is to be back race riding on December 28 or thereabouts. It won’t be before then,’’ Waddell said.
‘‘I’ll ride at the Waipa trials next week and the ball is in the court of the officials who will assess when they think I’m ready to race ride.’’
Waddell’s career, which started in 2001, has been littered with weight issues but when he is on his game there is no doubting his ability.
He has 539 winners with five Group I wins in New Zealand and a Singapore Guineas victory.
Waddell has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past but he wants to put that behind him.
‘‘My growing family and my partner have been a lot of my motivation as have the people who have supported me through the last 12 months.
‘‘He’ll be a welcome addition to the riding ranks,’’ said his jockey agent Darryl Anderson. ‘‘He wants to do what he loves and what he’s good at.
‘‘It will be nice to have a rider of his ability back in the ranks.’’
Waddell has tested his skill in trackwork for Windsor Park Stud during his break and in recent times Shaune Ritchie, Lauren Brennan and the powerful BakerForsman barn.