Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Odendaal - as positive as ever

David Thiselton
MJ Odendaal, who was Champion Jockey in the 2004/2005 season, is riding the crest of a wave at present simply due to being injury free at last.
After winning the championship he had a fall in which he tore the sheath of his stomach and also damaged knee ligaments.
A three-month stint in Hong Kong after that bore no fruit.
“You just can’t compete with the world’s best jockeys when you’re carrying injuries,” he said at Clairwood where he had three rides yesterday. “I never got going and after three months I informed them that it would be better if I went home to recuperate completely.”
Odendaal took five months off which allowed all of his injuries to mend.
He came back and formed a lethal partnership with Weiho Marwing in Durban.
“We were flying,” he recalled.
Then came the fateful day of October 3, 2007.
He was riding a horse called Royal Calibre when its leg suddenly broke. Odendaal was thrown in front of the horse and a fraction of a second later it rolled over him.
It all happened in a flurry but he had sustained a broken leg, a fractured right shoulder blade, a right collar bone broken in three places and multiple fractures to his left collar bone.
At least three doctors told him that he would never ride again.
“I never gave up and owe it to Dr Joe de Beer of Cape Town who never gave up either,” said Odendaal. “Today I am 100% fixed and in hindsight the two year rest allowed all the other injuries I was carrying to heal fully too. I am feeling as strong as an ox and this is the first time in years that I have been completely injury free.”
All the metal plates that Odendaal was forced to carry for two years have now been removed.
“I never gave up”
His left collar bone proved to be the biggest obstacle to his comeback. He had six operations on it but the bones just would not knit. With the help of Dr de Beer he obtained some medicine from Canada that promotes the knitting of bones.
He had to inject himself everyday for four months and also had to put an ultra sound apparatus on his shoulder. Against all the odds Odendaal made his comeback to the saddle on January 20 this year. In 80 rides since he has already had 12 winners.
In Johannesburg he has been riding for Weiho Marwing, Geoff Woodruff, Gary Alexander and Lucky Houdalakis. He has decided to travel to Durban for rides too to get himself ready for the Champions Season.
“I am riding at 52kg which has been great in enabling me to get rides,” he said. “I am setting up a platform at the moment and the way I finish this season will determine how far I go next season.” Odendaal will be staying put in South Africa.
Although he has won many Grade 1 races he is yet to win the Vodacom Durban July or the J&B Met - his best finishes in them being second and fourth respectively.
“I think it is every jockey’s dream to win the July and the Met”, he said. “But my real goal will be to chase another championship. I enjoyed the travel and loved that year when I did it.” Being a lightweight this goal looks very realistic.
Odendaal’s confidence is surely growing by the day and he even had a positive outlook on a recent fall he had at the start of a race at the Vaal. The horse stumbled and he went over its head.
“It was a good test to see how strong I am now,” he joked, while showing the bruised forearm upon which the horse trampled.
Odendaal has overcome what many thought was the impossible and his always positive outlook would have increased as a result.
He is certainly on a steady upward curve at the moment and one to watch, particularly next season.

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