Nikita Beriman believes jockeys who suffer any kind of head knock in a fall should be stood down for at least 21 days

Nikita Beriman has revealed the mental and physical strain of her post-concussion symptoms while calling for changes to better protect jockeys from the often debilitating effects of head knocks.

Jockey Nikita Beriman Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography

Nikita Beriman has called for jockeys who suffer any kind of head knock in a fall to be stood down for a mandatory 21-day period.

Beriman would like to see the 12-day stand-down period for concussion in Queensland racing extended after being forced to deal with her own health problems following a nasty four-horse fall at Ipswich early this month that left fellow jockey Mark Du Plessis with a broken rib and three fractured vertebrae.

Beriman passed all her SCAT tests and was given the green light to compete on Caloundra Cup Day at the Sunshine Coast on July 5 when she had eight rides, including a winner on Chakra Boy in a $200,000 sprint race.

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But when she was called to a stewards’ inquiry late in the day, she started to feel sick and had to leave the room to vomit, sparking a series of post-concussion symptoms which are still adversely affecting the veteran hoop.

“The body’s good, it’s just the brain that’s not 100 per cent,” she said.

“There are so many components to this, it’s so frustrating.

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“I just need to rest the best I can and get back to being fighting fit and doing normal things.

“The doctor said it’s like shaking the trunk of a tree. You’re moving all the branches and leaves and you don’t know what part of it is the worst.”

In February last year, new concussion guidelines for junior and community sport recommended that athletes wait at least 21 days before resuming competitive contact action.

The guidelines were developed by the Australian Institute of Sport in co-operation with Sports Medicine Australia.

A race at Grafton in 2018 when three jockeys fell from their horses

Beriman said at one stage she struggled to even touch her knees, and being sidelined from the job she loved had been a massive psychological blow that had left the normally happy-go-lucky hoop battling depression at times.

“I’ve never been depressed but I’ve had to navigate my way through that,” she said.

“I’m an active person but lately I’ve been up for half a day and then back in bed resting.”

After visiting renowned sports doctor Peter Friis in Brisbane last Thursday, Beriman has been told to rest for the next six weeks before being reassessed for a return-to-riding date.

The tough-as-nails Beriman never thought she would become an advocate to keep concussed jockeys sidelined for longer than the current 12-day period but the recent fall has changed her perspective.

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“If you fall from a horse at speed, you should automatically be stood down for 21 days because you don’t know what the symptoms will be,” she said.

“People can land on their feet and get concussed, it’s not all about getting knocked out.

“Concussion works in so many different ways. When it shakes the brain, there are so many things inside the brain that control the way you speak, your sight, your vision, your balance.

“It only takes one to be off, especially in racing. I’m not even allowed to drive a car.”

Nikita Beriman steers gelding Chakra Boy to victory on Caloundra Cup Day at the Sunshine Coast on July 5. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography

Kevin Ring, the health and safety officer for the Australian Jockeys’ Association, said every state and territory, except NSW, had a mandatory 12-day stand-down period for concussion.

In NSW, some jockeys are back riding at the track just a few days after suffering a head knock, with each individual case treated differently.

Racing Queensland boss Lachlan Murray said a review of the governing body’s concussion protocols had been underway since April to discuss how other racing jurisdictions and sports managed the issue.

“The long-term health and wellbeing of our participants will always inform our decision-making,” Murray said on Sunday.

“The introduction of a mandatory 12-day stand-down period was, in our belief, a necessary first step and one that demonstrated the seriousness in which we viewed concussion for our participants.”

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Ring said that checking footage of any race fall to see how a jockey had landed was crucial to determining whether that person needed to be stood down from riding.

He cited the example of Braidon Small, the son of former champion Vo Rogue’s rider Cyril, who was involved in a jumps fall at Pakenham in April 2019.

Like Beriman, Small passed all the medical tests and was driven home by his partner.

But that night he was admitted to hospital at Warrnambool after experiencing a severe headache and was later diagnosed with bleeding on the brain and placed in an induced coma.

Jumps jockey Braidon Small seemed fine after a race fall in 2019 but he later ended up in an induced coma. Picture: Racing Photos

Small recovered from his injuries but in 2023 he had to overcome two bouts of brain surgery to remove a tumour.

“They ended up looking at footage of the race afterwards and he was in the foetal position for about 15 seconds,” Ring said.

“This has now become a test case. One important thing is to check the film of the race and see how the jockey fell.

“If the rider is taken to hospital, then show the attending doctors how the rider landed.

“But just to stand down a rider because they fell, you’re going to have a lot of jockeys up in arms.

“They already have to stand down for 12 days when they have a concussion. Eventually it’ll probably be a longer period.

“At the end of the day, we’re not the experts on concussion. We have to be guided by the medical experts.”

Originally published as Nikita Beriman believes jockeys who suffer any kind of head knock in a fall should be stood down for at least 21 days