Former champion jockey Peter Cook opens up about heart attack that nearly killed him and ended his career

”They rang my family and told them the damage done to me and that I wasn’t going to get through the night and if I was religious then have a priest there. I was given my last rights.” Former champion jockey Peter Cook has opened up about the heart attack that nearly claimed his life and ended his career.

FORMER champion jockey Peter Cook has opened up about the heart attack that nearly claimed his life and ended his career.

Speaking at the Gold Coast Turf Club’s awards night last Thursday, the Cook revealed shocking details surrounding the incident that occurred while he was in the sauna at the Black Opal Stakes day in Canberra in 1991.

“I was in the sauna with the jockeys and most of them left, except for one jockey, I won’t mention his name,” Cook, 68, said.

“I turned to him and said ‘I think I’m having a heart attack’.

“He laughed and walked out and left me. I quietly got up and opened the door and stepped out. Another jockey, Kevin, was there and he said ‘you don’t look good’.

“I said ‘no I think I’m in serious trouble, you better get the doctor’.

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“All of a sudden I started to break out in beads of sweat and had excruciating chest pain.

“I felt like I was going to vomit but I hadn’t eaten in two days. I staggered out to the toilets and I was dry reaching.

“I thought my insides were going to come out. All of a sudden the pain left but I was walking back and I thought someone had king hit me, the pain was excruciating.

“I collapsed on the floor. Some guy picked me up off the floor and said ‘don’t worry Peter we have you. It was the ambulance driver.

“They didn’t take me to hospital. They just put me on the cot and left me to get the next race started.

Melbourne Cup-winning jockeys Peter Cook (left) and Tony Allan (middle) on stage at the Gold Coast Turf Club's 2019 awards. Picture: Supplied.

“I was in terrible pain and completely naked on the cot. Everyone was coming and going. A doctor walked in and asked how I was doing.

“I looked up and I noticed my hand was so white and I said ‘I don’t think I have any blood pressure’.

“He said, ‘well. a girl has just been kicked outside, a strapper … I’m going out to attend to her’, so he left.

“The horse has stood on her foot. It was two-and-a-half hours before I was taken to the hospital.

“The visiting doctor … had called another ambulance because the ambulance was too busy keeping the races running on time.

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“Eventually this ambulance turned up, picked me up, put me on a cot and we went straight out the door.

“We were driving along and … I suddenly realised we kept stopping and I screamed out to the driver to ask why.

“He said ‘sorry Peter we keep getting the red lights’. So there was no siren, they stopped at three sets of lights.

“I lost consciousness when I got to the hospital. They saved my life. I was in intensive care and they rang my family and told them the damage done to me and that I wasn’t going to get through the night and if I was religious then have a priest there. I was given my last rites.”

Black Knight, ridden by jockey Peter Cook, wins the Melbourne Cup at Flemington in 1984.

The Gold Coast resident, who won the 1981 Melbourne Cup with Just A Dash and the 1984 Cup with Black Knight, lost 43 per cent of his heart muscle and it took him 12 months to recover.

Cook tried unsuccessfully to return to the saddle but struggled to get support from any trainers.

He eventually got a ride on Steel Harvest at Rosehill in 1993 but it reared and landed on top of Cook, breaking his back for the fourth time.

“I thought, that’s it, I can’t do it anymore. That was the end of my career.”

Cook started legal proceedings against the ACT Racing Club in a bid to fight for jockey’s rights after the heart attack and 11 years later he was awarded around $1.3 million in damages.