Damien Oliver is probably the best-known current Australian jockey. His is a story of talent and success, but also of heartbreak, tragedy and recovery. It’s the stuff Hollywood films are made of, and its not entirely surprising that a movie based on Damien Oliver’s career is currently in production. “The Cup” is scheduled for release in 2009, and will feature Stephen Curry as Damien Oliver.

Damien Oliver was born in Perth in 1972 into a racing family. His father Ray Oliver was also a jockey until tragically killed in a race fall in Kalgoorlie, WA.

Damien’s career started as an apprentice to Lindsey Rudland in Perth, and his first winner was Mr Gudbud in 1988 at Bunbury, WA. In total, Oliver rode 66 winners in WA and was the leading apprentice for the 1988/89 season. He then moved to Melbourne, to complete his apprenticeship with the trainer Lee Freedman. Under Freedman, Oliver did complete his apprenticeship with a total of 478 winning rides.

Oliver’s first Group 1 win was on Submariner in 1990, for Bart Cummings in the Show Day Cup. By the end of his apprenticeship he had 18 Group 1 wins, including the Caulfield Cup (on Mannerism). He also won the Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership twice as an apprentice.

Over the next decade, Oilver’s career went from strength to strength. Highlights included winning the Caulfield Cup again in 1994, 1995, and 1999 as well as the Cox Plate in 1997 and 2001. In 1995, he won the Melbourne Cup on Doriemus. During this decade Damien was at the height of his profession, and he won the Victoria Jockeys’ Premierships five more times. Then tragedy struck.

Days before Oliver was due to ride Media Puzzle in 2002’s Melbourne Cup, his older brother Jason, also a jockey, was killed in a fall during track work. Damien is on record as having said “Melbourne Cups don’t mean anything to me any more – I’d give it back to get my brother back”. Damien then went on to win the Melbourne Cup for the second time, and flew home to Perth the following day to attend his brother’s funeral. The 2002 Melbourne Cup went down in history as the most emotional Cup ever.

Oliver continued his career as a highly successful jockey, but then tragedy struck again. In 2005, during a race at Moonee Valley, he fell and was left with two fractured vertebrae, which kept him out of racing for a year. He was extremely lucky not to have damaged his spinal cord, which could have confined him to a wheelchair for life. Many jockeys with Oliver’s injuries would have taken the opportunity to retire. Instead he worked through a year of painful rehabilitation, and returned to the track in 2006 to come second in the Melbourne Cup that year.

In 2008, Damien’s mount Mad Rush was favourite to win the Melbourne Cup, but was a little unlucky on the day and came in eighth. One gets the impression that Damien Oliver hasn’t yet finished with the Melbourne Cup and will be back for another crack in 2009.

Damien Oliver’s story is not just that of a great jockey, it’s also that of huge determination and dedication to his sport. That’s why, against all odds, Damien Oliver always bounces back.