Sport
10 December, 2024
Mount Isa jockey recovering in hospital after nasty fall
Jason Hoopert broke several ribs and punctured a lung after a post-race incident on Saturday.
Ride horses for long enough and eventually you’ll hit the deck.
Jason Hoopert knows about that more than most.
In fact, the 52-year-old is lucky to be alive after a horrific fall at Kilcoy in 2006 that left him in a coma for eight days and sidelined him from the saddle for five years.
“They said I’d never ride again,” said Hoopert, speaking from his hospital bed in Mount Isa after he suffered another bad fall, this time non-life threatening.
There’s no footage of Hoopert hitting the deck because it happened after the first race, where he finished second aboard the Tanya Parry-trained Bethehorse.
“I was pulling up and the horse baulked at something and lost its footing and we both came down,” he told North West Weekly.
“I was conscious the whole time but I don’t know if the horse landed on me ... when I worked out what had happened I was on the ground between its front and back legs.”
The incident happened in the space of just a couple of seconds.
“I knew I had to get out straight away because I didn’t want to get kicked,” Hoopert said.
The result was a handful of broken ribs, many of them fractured in different places.
“I’ve also got a punctured lung and internal bleeding,” he said.
The injuries will put Hoopert in doubt to ride at the first meeting of 2025, scheduled for February 22.
“It’ll take a few months to heal,” he said.
It was a cruel finish to 2024 for the experienced Mount Isa jockey.
He wasn’t even supposed to ride in the final race meeting of the year and only became available because the program was rescheduled after rain washed out the meeting a week prior.
Hoopert had just spent a couple of weeks in Africa, relishing the opportunity to capture the iconic wildlife through the lenses of his many cameras.
“It was awesome,” the amateur/semi-professional snapper said.
“The highlight was when we got charged by an elephant. He didn’t want us to be there so the guide threw it in reverse and we got out of there real quick.”
Hoopert’s injury put a dampener on the final meeting of the year – not only was one of the region’s only jockeys carted away in an ambulance, but it also left just five riders left for the meeting.
Longreach trainer Mark Oates had sent one horse to Mount Isa for a specific race, while Richmond’s Shyrn Royes had two winning hopes – they all had to be scratched once Hoopert went down.
Despite several bad falls over several decades of riding, Hoopert says he’ll be back in 2025.
“Nothing shakes my confidence but now I have to ask myself if it’s worth it,” he said.
“I’ll have some time to think. I know I’ll come back but how long I stay riding for is the question.”
Hoopert has a full-time job on the mine site which he’ll now be sidelined from for two months.
“WorkCover will pay for the loss of income from both jobs so I’ll be OK that way,” he said.
The trainers shared the spoils at Buchanan Park over the five races, with four tasting success.
Tanya Parry had a double, with Jetski, ridden by Tom Orr, and Fabulous Hoffa, piloted by Melissa Campbell, winning the last two races of the year.
Melissa Bieri and jockey Jason Babarovich combined in the first when Rockbarton Racer broke his maiden after 15 starts.
Peter Inwood tasted success with The Last Crusade, ridden a treat by Nor Yadi, while Bob Burow enjoyed a long-awaited win with The Brotherhood, who was ridden by Babarovich.