Jai Williams, who rode four winners at a metropolitan meeting at Eagle Farm back on February 4 before being sidelined from injury following a fall at Beaudesert two days later, returned to the saddle at Eagle Farm last Saturday, expecting to ease back into race action with two rides in the first two races on the card.
There was a false start though with Williams failing to make the weight in the first race. While that was certainly not how he would have liked it to be and was disappointing, it was hopefully just minor hiccup in the grand scheme of things, given the challenges Williams has faced over the last three months … challenges about which he talks about with revealing honesty.
He did step up and take that first ride back in the second race in which he gave the $10 chance Restonica, (who carried 59.5kg) a great sight for a long way before the gelding was run out of it over the final 120m, but still finished fourth just 1.86 lengths behind Soothsayer, the race winner.
“Yeah, my weight is a bit s…t,” admitted Williams. The positive is that is Williams’ weight, as it relates to race riding, is now a work in progress which was, understandably, not the priority in the aftermath of the fall at Beaudesert.
“I was concussed really badly,” explained Williams. “It took me probably a month … a month and a half … to snap out of it. I felt like I was in a dream. I also battled with depression … it was really bad.
“I also suffered a punctured lung in the fall, but he physical part never really bothered me … it was more the mental side of things.
“The fall happened at the worst time in the world,” continued Williams. I was winning. I had Tony Gollan on-side … and Ciaron Maher.
“I probably should have been back two months ago, but it just took a little bit of time to know what I really wanted. You can only come back when you are ready … and I wasn’t ready.
“I was nearly going to hang to boots up and not come back. I was going to go scaffolding with my brother, but then I galloped that good horse … Single Red … and I thought, no, this is it, I’ve got to stick at it.”
Williams was not the first to find out that racing is a difficult game to leave behind … and that realisation came with a few home truths.
“I realised that I love the sport. I realised what it meant to me,” said Williams. “I feel have matured as a person and I’ve got a lot of different goals in my life now.
“Early days It was all about the bling and the nice cars, but it still wasn’t all about the money for me. It was about being in the limelight a little … that sort of thing.
“Now I want to own a house. I want to have a career for as long as I can. I really appreciate being able to get back and having things to look forward to.
“I’m at Rosehill on Saturday. Yeah, I’m going down there for Bjorn Baker and hopefully Ciaron Maher so far … and I’m hoping to pick up a few more. People like that having confidence in me helps me build confidence in myself.”
Williams had to ‘recover’ on several fronts … one being finding a trainer who would take him on board after the turmoil of his time off as an apprentice cannot ride without being attached to a stable. When he had been riding high, Williams had been attached to trainer Paul Shailer, but that arrangement fell through, temporarily leaving Williams in no-man’s land.
Until …
“I’m pretty grateful that Paul Shailer took me back,” acknowledged Williams. “I was jumping camps and he gave me a go.”
Again, that renewed relationship came with a fresh understanding of the strict, mentoring role that Shailer would play in William’s immediate future.
“Yeah, he picked up my shift which is not easy,” said Williams. “He gives me a talking to at least twice a week. I’m not an easy one. I can lose my head quite easily, but he keeps me on track … and I’m taking all he is giving me on board.
“I’ve got a bunch of people I can say ‘thank you’ to. I’m twenty-two, but sometimes I’m still a kid in the head, and you do need these people to help you along the way, otherwise you can lose your way too easily.
“With the weight and everything, I’ve still got a long way to go, and I know it will be hard work, but I feel I have come through a lot … I know my flaws … I know where I want to get to and I plan to give it a full go.”
