Rob Heathcote lifts lid on the extent of those suffering from depression within racing industry

QUEENSLAND trainer Rob Heathcote has helped to lift the lid on the Black Dog that is barking in Australia’s racing industry.

Rob Heathcote admits the good times are great but life around a stable is not always rosy

ROB Heathcote trains Queensland’s best racehorse and is coming off the most successful spring carnival of any trainer in the state’s history.

He should be full of zest and enthusiasm.

But the state’s leading trainer has helped to lift the lid on the Black Dog that is barking in Australia’s racing industry, revealing how depression is now commonplace in the relentless business of racing.

There is a sad epidemic sweeping the racing game with Hall of Fame Victorian trainer Lee Freedman recently admitting to bouts of depression and heavy drinking.

Fellow Victorian trainer Tony Vasil is also battling depression and has been in Queensland receiving professional treatment. Then there are scores of untold stories of trainers and jockeys fighting the Black Dog, some have attempted suicide.

Wake-up alarms jangling at 3am every day and seven-day-a-week racing are only part of the picture.

‘’Depression is widespread in the racing industry ... the reality is it can be a very demanding, stressful and depressing business,’’ Heathcote told The Courier-Mail yesterday.

‘’It may seem like we lead a pretty good life. We are at the races with a suit and tie on, and invariably in the bar when we have just won a nice race and we are celebrating.

‘’But that is only one end of the scale of it.

Rob Heathcote, with jockey Damian Browne, says racing presents a happy face but beneath the surface many find themselves fighting with the Black Dog. Picture: Peter Wallis

‘’You can come off the high of a Group 1 win on a Saturday and then be racing in a lowly maiden on the provincial circuit the following day and your horse runs second last and you have disappointed owners.

‘’As an employer and as a trainer it is also the fact that you are basically working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year.

‘’I have got two teenage kids and one day I turned around and said ‘Who are these guys in my house?’ They were my kids.

‘’I’ve come off as successful a spring carnival as anyone could possibly have. But I would be lying if I didn’t admit I was questioning a lot of things about this industry.’’

The plague of depression funnelling through training ranks has become so prevalent that the racing industry now concedes it has a major problem.

Australian Trainers’ Association chief executive John Alducci recently conceded factors that contributed to anxiety and depression in trainers were “a runaway train”.

Heathcote feels many trainers may be reluctant to admit they have a problem because of the cut-throat nature of the racing industry.

‘’The narks out there would say if you don’t like it get out. Racing has always been a hard-as-nails industry,’’ Heathcote says.

‘’One of my training colleagues often rings the doctor and says he is feeling pretty flat and pretty down.

‘’The doc asks him what time he wakes up and goes to bed. He says he wakes at 3am and goes to bed at 8pm. Every day of the year. The doc says ‘there is your problem.’’

‘’This business just keeps coming at you.’’

Rob Heathcote admits the good times are great but life around a stable is not always rosy. Picture Graeme Collopy