Jessica Rae is determined to make up for time lost from the Covid disruptions and a bad knee injury. The Equestrian Australia ‘Generation Next’ High Performance Squad member has serious goals to kick in 2022.

Having started the season with two impressive performances in the CCI4*-S at Tamworth International Eventing, Jessica Rae is banking on a year that should involve more time on the cross country course than the past three seasons combined.

“My horses have done very little for the past few years!” Jess laughs, reflecting on a frustrating chapter in her eventing career that she is glad to put behind her. “I sort of feel like I’m coming back out again, just trying to work out what I’ve got and where we’re at.”

In addition to the disappointments, interruptions and cancellations that Covid-19 created for all competitors over the past 2½ years, Jess was laid low with a serious knee injury. She damaged it playing Oztag (essentially a non-tackling version of rugby) in 2020 and underwent surgery twice, keeping her out of the saddle for several months during a long rehabilitation. Now upbeat and enthusiastic, however, she’s not dwelling on the negatives but latching onto the positives from the forced layoff.

“At the time, I was working for Shane and Niki Rose at Bimbadeen, with both the eventers and the racehorses,” Jess explains. “I spent the first month after surgery at home with my parents. I couldn’t do anything. I was just so keen to get back to Bimbadeen, and I was still on crutches, but by the time of my injury I’d already taken over managing the racehorses there. Being unable to ride meant that I had more time to put into the management of the racehorses, and do things like writing reports for owners and talking to clients.

“I started to really enjoy that side of the job a bit more. As I couldn’t go and jump, I think I sort of poured my energy into the racehorse side of things, which I find really interesting, and since then I’ve kept going down that path. So that was a good thing to come out of it!” Jess enthuses, adding: “We all get so busy – you don’t really get many chances to take a step back and think about what you want to do or where you want to be – so that time out of the saddle gave me a chance to really have a bit of a think about where I was at.”

Having pursued a career as a professional rider since finishing high school, Jess found no reason to change her mind. However, her increasing interest in the racing industry presented an opportunity to diversify; when a position with Emeran Park arose in mid-2021, she made the tough decision to leave the wonderful Bimbadeen family and relocate back to the New South Wales Central Coast.

“I was very sad leaving Bimbadeen after two amazing years, I really had the best time there and I’m so grateful to Shane and Niki for all that they have done for me. I just decided it was a good next step; I’ve still got so much to learn about the racing industry and I thought there were a whole new range of opportunities that could come out of this job,” says Jess.

OVERSEES 180 THOROUGHBREDS

Emeran Park is a Thoroughbred pre-training, spelling and rehabilitation business spread over two properties in the Dooralong Valley. As the manager, Jess oversees the management and welfare of 180 Thoroughbreds; it’s a varied and busy lifestyle that still allows her to train and campaign three FEI level eventers – plus some young horses!

“It is a bit hectic; I’m still trying to work it out, I don’t sleep much,” Jess laughs. “My day starts at four o’clock when I get up and go into the racetrack at Wyong. Emeran Park has some boxes at the track, so I ride the racehorses in there before going back to the farm to ride some horses there as well, and do everything I need to do. Emeran has a spelling farm and also a pre-training farm, which are a couple of kilometres apart in addition to the stables at the track, so there’s always a lot going on.

“I ride my own horses at the end of the day, and I’ve got four eventers in work at the moment. It does mean that sometimes I don’t get inside until 8pm by the time I’ve finished doing all I need to do. It’s probably not a lifestyle that’s sustainable forever, but at the moment it’s working well for me. I’m fortunate enough to live on the farm at Emeran, and so do my horses, so I don’t have to drive anywhere at the end of the day to get them ridden. Even though it’s a racehorse property, we’ve got a really good arena, and despite all the wet weather lately it’s still been amazing to ride on, so I’m very lucky to have that there!”

While Jess’s interest in the racing industry grew during her time working for Shane and Niki Rose, her involvement started around eight years ago when working for Tim Boland at Limitless Lodge.

“I really enjoyed working for Tim, but at that point in time I was running my own business, mainly coaching riders and schooling horses, very much performance horse-based. I worked with the racehorses then as it was a reliable weekly income that kept my business income topped up,” Jess explains. “Then I worked for a couple of other people riding racehorses between Limitless Lodge and moving to Bimbadeen. When I moved to Shane’s, it was a time when a lot of things had changed in my life, and I had to really have a think about how – if I wanted to ride at the top level of eventing – I was going to fund that going forward.

‘OPENED UP MY EYES’

“When I went to Shane and Niki’s and I saw what they have done, it opened up my eyes and I realised that it might be a better way to do things. What they have achieved is an absolute credit to them. They’ve built a really successful business in the racing industry; they started it with nothing and have a huge client base now. Shane basically owns most of his eventers; he has a couple of owners, but his racehorse business effectively pays for his eventing and I just thought, ‘Oh well, that works!’ I also really enjoy the social side of the racing industry; I enjoy meeting the clients and talking to trainers.”

While Jess’s energy, time and passion are no longer directed exclusively towards eventing, it’s still front of mind. When speaking of her horses and her goals in the eventing world for this year and beyond, she is focused, determined and excited.

With her two four-star horses, Fifth Avenue and Rascal both jumping clear of cross country penalties to place sixth and twelfth respectively in their first 2022 start at Tamworth International Eventing, the season has started on the right note and the future looks bright.

Their next event was to be at Willinga Park in a few weeks’ time, however that has now been cancelled due to the rain; therefore, the focus is now on Sydney Three Day Event. “The plan at the moment is to run Rascal in the short format four-star at Sydney, then continue on to Melbourne after that, ideally in the Australian Trans-Tasman team. With Fifth Avenue, the plan is to run in the long format four-star at Sydney. I’ve also got Stakkino at the moment who actually belongs to Shane Rose, I’ve got the ride on him for a little while,” Jess explains. “He did the three-star at Tamworth, and he’ll probably do the three-star at Willinga, and then I just really need to work out with Shane a plan for what he’s going to do as far as Sydney and Melbourne. I’ll see what Shane has in mind!

“Looking at the rest of the year, I really want to run Fifth Avenue at Adelaide in the five-star, that’s the goal for her. I’m still undecided about Rascal. I’m just not sure whether to aim him for five-star or if I should just try to pick some shorter events where he might be a bit more suited.”

RASCAL & FIFTH AVENUE

Having bred, broken in and campaigned Rascal since the very start of his eventing career, Jess has always believed in the now 13-year-old Regardez Moi gelding’s suitability as an event horse. However, Fifth Avenue’s story is rather different – the 13-year-old mare originally came to Jess to be sold after she had bucked her previous owner off and broken her pelvis.

“She was quite hot but she was an amazing jumper – and my partner at the time, who is a show jumper – kept wanting to buy her and I kept saying ‘No, the brain’s not good enough, she just won’t settle down and I just don’t want to do it’. He managed to convince me that we should buy her and I’m so glad he did because she has just been the most amazing horse for me.

“Breeding-wise she’s a really mixed bag. She’s by a Warmblood stallion, Raphael, out of an Irish Sport Horse cross Thoroughbred mare. I really do think a lot of her, and I would love to take a horse overseas and compete one day – I’d like to think Fifth Avenue is the type of horse that could go around some of those big five-star tracks like Badminton and Burghley. It’s definitely in the back of my mind that if everything goes well this year, I might look into it next year,” Jess continues. “Of course, everything has to go right and I have to win the Lotto and all of those things, but it’s definitely a bucket list thing to take a horse overseas and compete, so fingers crossed!”

Whenever Jess does take a horse overseas, it won’t be her first taste of competing internationally. In 2019, she competed with Rascal in the Oceania Eventing Championships held at Taupo, New Zealand. “It was the most amazing trip, I’m so grateful to have had that experience. The High Performance Program was able to take eight senior riders over there, which gave a few of us a chance to compete internationally that we might not have otherwise had,” Jess enthuses. “It didn’t go how I would have liked — we slipped on the flat and I fell four fences from home cross country. So that was the end of my competition there. But just to be in that environment, see how it all works, and have a chance to work with everyone on and involved in the team, it really was the most valuable experience and I’m so grateful I got to do that.

‘GREAT BUNCH OF PEOPLE’

“We’re really fortunate that we’ve got such a great bunch of people involved in eventing, everyone just really wants to support each other. I’ve learnt from so many good people over the years, going back to when I first left school and worked for Gordon Bishop, who was based with Heath and Rozzie Ryan at the time. That was a great place to start, Gordon is a real horseman, and I really value and continue to use a lot of the things I learned from him.

“Then over the years I’ve been lucky to have some great coaches like Andrew Barnett, who is a good friend; he’s helped me a lot and I still ring him for advice now. Prue Barrett is another who’s been a really good mentor to me. When I was at Shane and Niki’s, they helped me for the couple of years that I was there. Not only are they mentors, they are also great friends. They’re just genuinely good people; if I ever need anything, if I ever need advice, if I need help, they’re definitely people I can call or lean on.”

Initially it was the appeal of cross country that drew Jess toward eventing as her discipline of choice, yet it’s the enjoyment of the sport on all levels and the people involved in it that have encouraged and enabled her to reach the top level.

“I grew up on a farm and we always rode as kids and went to Pony Club for years, I did a bit of everything at that point. I always liked eventing, I was a fairly brave kid, so I really enjoyed cross country. When I went to high school at NEGS I played a lot of sport, so riding wasn’t my only priority, but I knew it was something I wanted to keep going with,” Jess explains. “When I left school, I had a year off. I did reasonably well at school, but I really didn’t enjoy studying or sitting in a classroom. There was no way I was going straight to university. I’d always planned to have a year off and work with horses.

“I deferred uni and did plan on going back, but after a year I thought, ‘You know what, I still really like this, I’m going to forget about uni for a while and keep going’. So I stayed on a second year working with Gordon at the NSW Equestrian Centre, then one thing led to another and I never ended up going back to uni!”

Undeterred by the serious knee injury she suffered in 2020, Jess continues to enjoy playing sport and still finds time for Oztag in amongst her racing and eventing commitments. “Don’t tell my parents that I’m still playing Oztag!” Jess laughs. “Obviously recovery from my injury was a horrible time, I really don’t wish that upon anyone. It was just so frustrating because it stopped me doing everything I do. But I’ve been really fortunate; I worked hard at my rehab and recovered really well. I had a great surgeon, great physio and I honestly feel very normal now. I’ve been lucky, my knee feels strong, so I just enjoy playing sport and doing other things. I really wanted to get back to my life as it was before, and I’m so lucky I could do that.”

While Jess may speak of her current and previous luck, one cannot help but feel that the best is yet to come for this multi-talented eventer. With the right balance between eventing and racing commitments, a team of FEI horses in their prime and a string of young horses waiting in the wings, the stage is set for an exciting chapter to unfold. EQ

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