Page 8 - July 2007 The Game

8 The Game, July 2007
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Jimmy Mac: When Are You Coming Back? - By Peter Gross
Injured Woodbine jockey Jim McAleney with wife Kim
Veteran Jockey Jim McAleney Oozes Positive Vibes While His Leg Heals
You could paint a sad and miserable picture of jockey Jim McAleney and the dreadful luck that befell him. You could pluck the violins and evoke pity for the man who had his thigh bone snapped just two days before the start of the Woodbine season. You could ask how could such an awful thing happen to such a great guy?
Except, if you did, you’d be writing the wrong story.
I met McAleney at WEGZ, Woodbine’s massive off-track betting restaurant and sports bar on the day of the draw for the Woodbine Oaks, and though he was walking with the aid of a cane, he looked trim and buoyant. The femur may be the largest bone in the body, but apparently it takes much more than
busting it to turn Jimmy Mac’s disposition sour.
“I was on a filly for Reade Baker in the morning,” McAleney begins, not at all reluctant to recap his worst injury. “She got a little spooked in the starting gate and she went up. When she went up in the air, I got most of my body out and was sitting on the tailgate when she flipped over backwards and she landed on my left leg and I knew immediately my leg was broken.”
Pressed for explicit details on his excruciating pain, McAleney doesn’t provide much of a gore-fest.
“I was surprised. I’ve seen numerous other breaks on people over the years and was always afraid of it happening to me
and that it would be a terrible experience,” he says. “When it happened, I expected a lot more pain. They dragged me out of the gate, my leg flopped over in terrible positions but it didn’t gross me out as badly as I thought it would.”
Instead of
focusing on the unanticipated interruption to his terrific career (2006: 111 wins, over $6 million in purses), McAleney wishes to emphasize the skilled care he’s received.
“I had a great orthopedic doctor by the name of Dr. Stephen Cartan at the William Osler Centre at Humber Hospital,” he says. “He made an incision in the top part of my hip and drove a rod through the top half of the broken bone. I could tell from talking to him afterwards that he was happy with the job that he’d done. I’m taking physical therapy right now at the Haldimand-Norfolk Centre in Caledonia. I’ve just recently started working out on the Pilates machine and it’s ideal for riders because it can pinpoint specific muscles that I know I’ll be using when I ride. The physical treatment is wonderful.”
Because the femur is such a sizeable bone, many people who have suffered similar traumatic damage also endure lingering side effects. Fortunately, that hasn’t been the case with McAleney.
“Everything, touch wood, has gone in perfect order,” he beams. “No setbacks, no mishaps -everything has gone according to plan.”
Actually the real plan would have been for him to be riding daily and picking up the victories at the rate to which he had become accustomed.
“We have two things that we can rely on right now,” McAleney says. “The Jocks’ Guild does a wonderful job taking care of us through their insurance program. As well, the racetrack has an insurance policy that kicks in for riders and all employees, so we’re covered in two areas. There’s absolutely no comparison to what I would be making. I have money to get by....barely.”
To be honest, I was almost hoping to get McAleney to express a little bitterness and, if not that, just a touch of anxiety from watching the horses he expected to be riding as they run their way into the winner’s circle, but it’s impossible to raise a dark cloud from him.
“You can’t look at it like that,” he says with impeccable logic. “I learned a long time ago in this game that any type of negative attitude is just detrimental. I believe everything happens for a reason and it’s my job to accept it to the best of my ability. I don’t look at horses that I could have ridden. I cheer for the people I ride for and I’m happy to see them do well. The people that I ride for, I consider friends. Reade Baker has gotten off to a slow start and the day he won the Selene Stakes with Bear Now, I was ecstatic for him.”
McAleney would almost certainly have been the jockey on Bear Now, but he harbours no malice or jealousy for Emile Ramsammy who got to pose for the victors’ picture.
“I don’t second guess - maybe Emile did some things that I wouldn’t have done. Maybe the filly responded better for him than she would have for
me.”
The guy exudes
nothing but good will and, because of that, he can count on a multitude of wait- ing saddles upon his return.
“I know that I have loyal clients in Reade, Lorne Richards and Roger Attfield and people such as that and when I return, I will get my business back.”
That return may not be soon enough for his fans, but McAleney does have a date in mind.
Continued next Page
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