Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
It's an iconic moment in Australian sport - the image of Damien Oliver, grieving the loss of his brother Jason just a week before - standing tall in the irons and sending a kiss to the sky as he steered the Irish visitor Media Puzzle (USA) (Theatrical {Ire}) to one of the most memorable of all G1 Melbourne Cup victories.
Twenty-one years later we salute Damien Oliver on the announcement of his upcoming retirement at the end of the year.
It's apt that Damien Oliver has chosen to lay down his cap and whip in the same state where he first picked them up - his hometown Perth where he will ride over the summer carnival before embarking on the next stage of his racing career.
Hoping to continue his racing involvement in the media, advisory and bloodstock spheres, Oliver has plenty to proudly look back on with Media Puzzle being one of his three Melbourne Cup winners and one of his 128 Group 1 winners.
He first enjoyed success on that famous first Tuesday in November aboard the flashy chestnut Doriemus (NZ) (Norman Pentaquad {USA}) in 1995 - that one for his former master Lee Freedman.
Doriemus (NZ) and Damien Oliver on their way to G1 Melbourne Cup victory in 1995 | Image courtesy of Darren Tindale
And his third was a significant one for a couple of reasons - Fiorente (Ire) in 2013 the first Cup winner for Gai Waterhouse and the 100th Group 1 winner for Oliver.
Riding his first winner in 1988 - at Bunbury for his first master, his stepfather Lindsay Rudland, Oliver (whose father, the successful jockey Ray Oliver died in a race fall when his son was just three) ventured to Melbourne at the age of 16 to continue his apprenticeship for Lee Freedman.
Gai Waterhouse and Damien Oliver after winning the 2013 G1 Melbourne Cup with Fiorente (Ire) | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Stable rider at the time was Darren Gauci who remembers being immediately impressed by a young man with wisdom beyond his years.
“What stood out about him from the start was his ability to read a race, to sum it up quickly and bring his horses in to the race at the right time.
“He was able to do that with the skill of someone with far more experience - I knew as soon as I saw him ride that he was going to end up the jockey he is today.”
“What stood out about him from the start was his ability to read a race... I knew as soon as I saw him ride that he was going to end up the jockey he is today.” - Darren Gauci
The Freedmans were not so quickly taken with Oliver however, Gauci remembering that there was a time in the first few weeks when the stable was considering letting him go back to Perth.
“I said, 'You are kidding - he is going to be a champion!'
“He had this great work ethic and he was so competitive in everything he did,” Gauci said, adding that he thinks Oliver's decision to retire comes at a good time - whilst “he is still riding well, still proving very competitive.”
Darren Gauci | Image courtesy of Racing Photos
Inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2008, Damien Oliver was off and away on his Group 1 career with his debut victory at the elite level coming (at the age of 18) as the result of a daring rails run aboard the Bart Cummings-trained Submariner (NZ) in the 1990 G1 Show Day Cup at Caulfield.
The big-race winners kept rolling and it was apt that one of his major milestones - his 50th Group 1 winner - would be aboard a horse from Western Australia, the mighty Northerly (Serheed {USA}) in the 2001 G1 Underwood S. at Caulfield.
He would ride that champion on nine occasions, the partnership also yielding wins in the G1 Caulfield S. and the G1 WS Cox Plate.
Success in the latter came four years after his first Cox Plate victory aboard Dane Ripper (Danehill {USA}) and other outstanding horses he enjoyed successful partnerships with included Schillaci (Salieri {USA}) - five Group 1 wins, Alinghi (Encosta De Lago) - four, Mannerism (Amyntor {Fr}) - four, Falvelon (aboard for both of his G2 Hong Kong International Sprint victories) and Testa Rossa - three.
Gallery: Some of the Group 1 winners Damien Oliver has ridden over his career, images courtesy of Sportpix
He was also a memorable second on Testa Rossa in one of the best runnings of the G1 Caulfield Guineas, beaten in a great battle with Redoute's Choice. He made up for that defeat in the 2021 edition of that Classic - reminding everyone that approaching 50 he was still a great rider as he steered home the rising star Anamoe, who will stand his first season at Darley's Kelvinside base in 2023.
It had been a three-decade gap between Caulfield Guineas wins for Oliver who was aboard the Lee Freedman-trained Centro (NZ) in 1990.
The most successful Group 1 races for Oliver were the VRC Oaks (seven), the VRC Derby (six), the Sir Rupert Clarke S. (six), the Lightning S. (five), the Mackinnon S. (five), the Queen Elizabeth S. (five), the Thousand Guineas (five), the Australasian Oaks (four), the Caulfield Cup (four), the Caulfield S. (four) and the Futurity S. (four).
The subject of a book 'The Cup' by Eric O'Keefe and a movie by the same name, Oliver did not have a career devoid of controversy, outed for 10 months after being found guilty of betting on a rival horse in a Moonee Valley race in 2010.
Damien Oliver | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
He also encountered injury setbacks, most noticeably from a frightening Moonee Valley fall in 2005 which saw him on the sidelines for 15 months with a spinal injury.
Ten times crowned Melbourne's Champion Jockey, Oliver has already been honoured by the VRC who, upon the announcement of his retirement, renamed the G2 Linlithgow S. (a race he won on two occasions in 2009 aboard Eagle Falls by Hussonet {USA} and Sister Madly by Redoute's Choice in 2011) on Derby Day as "The Damien Oliver."
Odds-on he will be trying his best to win his own race whilst hoping to add another Group 1 win or two to his already impressive tally by the end of his last racing year as one of Australia's finest riders.
