'I let racing and myself down': Jockey Damien Oliver apologises for placing bet

CHAMPION jockey Damien Oliver has apologised for making his infamous $10,000 bet, saying he was depressed and deep in a family crisis.

Damien Oliver

EARLY in his exile, during the Easter school holidays, Damien Oliver took his family to a riding school near Toolern Vale.

His wife and three kids rode the ponies, Damien the big horse. The Olivers found themselves in a big paddock.

"I said to my wife (Trish) that I had to get something out of my system," Oliver said.

"I ripped the old horse around the paddock, came back and said 'ah, that feels better'."

Tomorrow Oliver hops back on the horse again, for the second time since he was banished from the Sport Of Kings over a $10,000 bet on a horse other than the one he was riding.

Oliver, arguably Australia's greatest ever jockey, a winner of two Melbourne Cups and 96 Group One races, tomorrow rides trackwork at a country training property near Lancefield.

In two months Oliver can resume a career that was dramatically interrupted by the scandalous postscript to last year's spring carnival.

Oliver, 40, has had many months to reflect on that infamous bet and the damage it caused not just to him and his family but to racing's often battered reputation.

He is apologetic and admits he must redeem himself, for his own sake and for the sake of a sport that was damaged not just by one diabolical bet but by a string of spring carnival doping dramas.

Racing had never copped as much bad press as last spring. The fence-leaping stewards from racing Victoria were nabbing would-be cheats, tube or syringe in hand, almost daily.

Oliver was the final straw and the biggest scalp.

While contrite, Oliver is also adamant that he does not carry an extra burden of expectation because he is Damien Oliver; that his hero status -- the legendary kiss to the heavens aboard 2002 Melbourne Cup winner Media Puzzle just days after the death of his brother Jason, the big screen adaptation -- did not magnify his fall from grace.

He owes the sport no financial compensation, he says, because few in the sport have given as much to charity and racing causes -- his private business.

"I make absolutely no excuses but I think we all carry equal responsibility within the industry, me no more than anyone else," Oliver said, adding his fall came in a new era of intense scrutiny on sportsmen as role models.

"In a way I think that because it was the spring carnival it maybe had a bigger emphasis and the sporting landscape has changed a lot in the four decades I have been riding. There is far greater scrutiny and, yeah, maybe my profile made it a bigger story.

But I take absolutely full responsibility for what happened. It was my own doing and I'm really sorry about it. I bought a lot of undue pressure on the racing industry, which has been great to me. I feel I let racing down and myself down, more importantly.

"Most racing people are honest and hard working. I have to repay their trust."

Back in October 2010, in the midst of a domestic crisis and a bout of depression, Oliver placed $10,000 on Miss Octopussy in a race at Moonee Valley, via a jockeys' room phone call to professional punter Mark Hunter.

The bet was revealed, by chance, via police surveillance relating to the still unsolved murder of racing identity Les Samba.

After a lengthy steward's investigation Oliver was disqualified for eight months and suspended for two. His disqualification ends today and his racing return will coincide with the start of the spring carnival.

Oliver says his time out has given him clarity.

Racing is important, and he is determined to return and repay, but family is paramount.

Oliver has been "Daddy day-care" since last November, jogging beside young daughters Niali and Zara and son Luke to and from school. He has also acted as runner for his local junior football team. He has surfed and played golf.

He has formed friendships with school dads and mums.

"There aren't many positives to come out of the last eight months to be honest but I've got a young family and to spend time with them has been priceless; just watching them grow up, teaching my son how to swim and ride his bike and cheering my eldest daughter at netball," he said. "A lot of people in racing don't get that chance."

Oliver would prefer to look forward than back but says the dramatic events of last November require clarification.

Oliver was portrayed not just as a villain but as a villain who'd caught a break, maybe even struck a generous deal.

His 10-month penalty was widely condemned as too light. Most thought he'd get two years.

There was also criticism that Racing Victoria should have stood Oliver down weeks before he signed off his spring (and temporarily his career) with Group One wins aboard Fiveandahalfstar (Victoria Derby) and Happy Trails (Emirates Stakes).

The cynical described his winning percentages form those big wins, around $70,000, as holiday funds, a parting gift.

Oliver insists there was no deal and that it wasn't his business to assess the length of his penalty. His job was to cop it.

He said he paid a high price, and not just because he was unable to earn an income, probably around $400,000.

"The bills have kept coming in," he said, adding the media scrutiny was intense.

"I had cars parked out the front of my place for days. There was a big invasion of privacy and I have three young kids.

"Everyone wanted to have an opinion, whether right or wrong. It's not for me to judge the penalty but the integrity commissioner (Sal Perna) said in his report that it was in line with other penalties for jockeys betting.

"There was no deal with RVL. I fully co-operated through the whole process. It was in the middle of the spring carnival so it took a while. I knew I'd done the wrong thing. I wasn't hiding from anything I'd done."

Oliver insists the horse he rode that infamous night at Moonee Valley, Europa Point, was ridden on its merits. The Perna report did not question the merit of the ride.

"I rode that horse to the best of my ability, as I do every horse," Oliver said.

"I am a competitive person, even at golf I can't stand to lose. I've never ridden a horse in any other way than to get the best result for the trainer and owners and that will continue to be my mantra."

From today, the golf clubs and the surfboard are consigned to the garage. Daddy day-care is off duty. "I've let the missus know she's back on the school rounds," he said.

Oliver is tanned and fit, just a few kilograms above his stripped-down riding weight of about 55kg.

There will be the usual comeback aches and pains. He said he even pulled up "a bit ordinary" after his impromptu pony gallop at Toolern Vale. Oliver is on the wrong side of 40, but insists this comeback is not a cameo, not merely an attempt to end his story on the right note.

He says he is ready for the challenge but concedes the challenge is great.

"At the time (of last year's drama) the track was my sanctuary and I felt I'd never ridden better in my career," he said.

"It gives me confidence that I can come back and do it again. I'm in good shape but I'm under no illusion how hard it's going to be. I have to win back a lot of people's confidence. The only way I can do it is by working very hard."

Oliver said big-time trainers such as Mick Price, David Hayes, Leon Corstens and Chris Waller had indicated they'd give him rides. "That's really comforting," he said.

"When you're away you do tend to feel pretty isolated. I'm looking forward to seeing the boys (jockeys) in the room again. I've realised how important other things are, like my children, but also reminded me how much I love racing and that I owe it a debt of gratitude.

"I just want to get back on the horse."

Editorial, Page 18