Gold Trip’s Jason Woodbridge died twice on operating table prior to Melbourne Cup

He made millions collecting shopping trolleys, but Jason Woodbridge tells an even more remarkable tale of coming back from death’s door twice in 2021.

Jason Woodbridge is a part owner in Gold Trip, Ashrun and Lastotchka in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup. Picture: Supplied.

Shopping trolley tycoon Jason Woodbridge has twice knocked on death’s door, but reckons he didn’t like the view on the other side.

In one of the Melbourne Cup’s most extraordinary ownership stories, Woodbridge decided to buy into Gold Trip after deciding life was too short when he died twice on the operating table during emergency surgery in August 2021.

For most owners, winning a Melbourne Cup is a life highlight. For Woodbridge, being alive is even more extraordinary.

Woodbridge, a one-time greyhound trainer, made his fortune by bagging contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to collect shopping trolleys for some of the country’s biggest retailers after starting out as a collector on $3 an hour.

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The Gold Coast-based tycoon decided to buy in to a couple of horses with Australian Bloodstock around six years ago, which has only expanded after looking death in the eye in 2021.

He has shares in Gold Trip, Lastotchka and Ashrun in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

“Two and a bit years ago, I was on my boat at Airlie Beach and I got on the plane to come home, I mentioned to my parents that I didn’t feel too good,” Woodbridge told Racenet.

Jason Woodbridge was in a coma for almost five weeks and died twice on the operating table. Picture: Supplied.

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“I went to bed and had a bit of blood, so I go them to take me to the hospital.

“I was there in the emergency and ended up going through a litre of blood and was in a coma for the best part of five weeks. I died twice in that time on the table.

“All the veins down my oesophagus had exploded for some reason, they thought there was liver damage but it ended up coming up OK.

“I’m called the golden child at the hospital because I was not meant to live, I was dead.

“I have one more operation to go, I have had 11 to date.”

After waking from his coma, Woodbridge said it was a call to Australian Bloodstock that put him on the path to Gold Trip.

“I eventually came out of it and I was trying to escape the hospital, I had no idea what was going on, they had to cuff me to the bed,” he said.

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“I run a few big companies, so in that time my phone was taken off me.

“When I eventually got it back, I rang Luke (Murrell from Australian Bloodstock) and I said ‘find me a horse for the Melbourne Cup.’

“It was Gold Trip that arrived from that.

“We have been so lucky, we had horses like Mugatoo, I am very good mates with the guys, they are like family to me now.”

While winning the Melbourne Cup last year was an extraordinary experience, Woodbridge said bringing the famous trophy to the doctors and nurses that saved his life at the Gold Coast University Hospital was even better.

“I still watch the race and get tingles, I remember telling the horse ‘just have a crack’ before the race, so when he kicked clear at the 200m, I had tears pouring down my face, it was the most brilliant thing that’s happened in my life,” he said.

“It was so overwhelming when that horse won, it was like I could forget everything that happened, all my confidence came back to me.

“I'm not the party man I once was, I’m not allowed to drink alcohol anymore, but that was a good day.

Jason Woodbridge brought the winning Melbourne Cup trophy to the doctors and nurses who saved his life at the Gold Coast University Hospital. Pictures: Supplied.

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“I don’t care about the money side of it, I just love the horses and the stuff that goes with it.

“I took the Melbourne Cup to the hospital on the Gold Coast where they saved my life, they are such nice people and they were so rapt.”

A keen footballer in Victoria in his younger years, Woodbridge quit to take up a carpentry apprenticeship, while working at nights collecting trolleys to supplement his wage.

Little did he know it would lead to a $100m empire.

“I worked there at night time while I was doing carpentry, back then if the manager liked you, you got the contract,” he laughed.

“It ended up with me doing all the stores in Victoria, within six months I had 700 stores and $100m turnover a year, running a company that collected shopping trolleys.

“It was insane, I was travelling around Australia like I never knew was possible.”

Woodbridge will me impossible to miss on Tuesday, revealing he has had a special suit tailored for the day, matching the Australian Bloodstock silks his three horses will carry in the race that stops the nation.

Gold Trip is rated a $4.50 chance to defend his crown, while French import Lastotchka is $21 and Ashrun is $34.

Originally published as Gold Trip’s Jason Woodbridge died twice on operating table prior to Melbourne Cup