Jockey Samantha Clenton contemplates getting back on the racetrack after serious back injuries

The Newcastle jockey has made her name in one of the most dangerous of professions and overcome enormous challenges to get back in the saddle when giving it away would've been a totally understandable option to take.

She's on the road back again now, but whether that leads all the way to a return to riding in races remains to be seen.

The physical, rather than the mental, side of things is what's at play now.

Multiple spinal surgeries have taken their toll on Clenton's body and she must weigh up her desire to resume her career as a jockey against the potential for the physical strain to have further ill-effects.

Put simply, she won't want to go back to being a jockey if she thinks it's going to eventually leave her a physical wreck.

Clenton is only 29 and has a five-year-old son, Isaac, as well as the rest of her life to consider, and she would still be able to work with horses even if she couldn't ride them in races.

"Mentally, I'm fine," Clenton says. "It's about being realistic physically. I'm still young and I've had five lots of back surgery. When I was sore after my last surgery, in March, I was thinking: 'How bad will I be in another 10 years if I keep riding?'

"Right now, you wouldn't know I'd had spinal surgery. I'm finally off all of the painkillers and that's an absolute God-send to me. But being a jockey takes a toll on your body.

"It's about the general wear and tear and how that might affect quality of life in the future. I've put my body through a lot already and I've got to decide whether I want to do that again. It's a lot of strain, controlling a horse in a race.

"I've just got to be smart about life these days. I'm not going to ride any trackwork until next month and once I start doing that it will give me a guide on how I'd feel about riding in races again.

"But even if my future on top of horses was limited to riding trackwork, I'd still get a kick out of that. I've got the passion for the industry and I'll always be involved in some way around horses."

The operation Clenton underwent in March was to fuse vertebrae in her spine, after she had been experiencing increasing pain since the middle of last year.

It was her second spinal fusion procedure, the first having come after a horror fall at Scone in October, 2016.

Her first morning back at work at the Kris Lees stable at Newcastle, on July 4, was sandwiched between horrible falls for two other female jockeys in NSW - Elissa Meredith, that afternoon at Gunnedah, and Leah Kilner, the day before at Grafton.

Both injured riders were placed in induced comas to aid their recoveries, which are proceeding gradually with them having emerged from their comas.

It was a general reminder of the risks involved for every jockey whenever they take part in a race, but Clenton obviously didn't need reminding.

The Scone fall was the second Clenton had been involved in that year, the other being a six-horse fall at Taree in May in which she suffered a broken collarbone and some damage to her back.

The injuries from Taree were bad enough, but at Scone she fractured six vertebrae, including three compression fractures.

"I don't remember the day at Scone at all and I hardly remember being in hospital," she says.

"I was lucky I didn't end up in a wheelchair. They fused the T4, 5 and 6 vertebrae together and fixed my L1 and 2 transverse bones that hang off the spine. I also fractured a collarbone, the opposite one to the one I did at Taree, and a finger."

During her time out recovering and rehabilitating, Clenton fell pregnant with Isaac in February, 2017, to her then partner, Muswellbrook trainer Tim McIntosh. They are no longer together, but maintain a good relationship and co-parent their son.

It would've been no surprise had Clenton, coming off such serious injuries and as a new mother, quit race-riding at that point, but the bug bites hard and, armed with a medical clearance, she resumed riding trackwork four months after Isaac's birth.

That parlayed into her resuming her career as a jockey and it was extraordinary to see someone who had been through what she'd been through return to the track with no fear, no loss of nerve, spearing horses through narrow gaps to win.

In season 2018-19 she rode 44 winners throughout NSW, including nine in Sydney. In 2019-20 that shot up to 89 in NSW, including 13 in Sydney.

Clenton said she never sought professional help from a "mind coach" to help prepare her to ride again and relied on her inner strength and self-belief, plus the discipline she was taught by her parents.

"That's the sort of person I am," she says.

"It's never actually bothered me. It's not an issue, self-doubt or worrying about what might happen, not at all.

"Mum and Dad had show horses when I was growing up at Herons Creek and if I fell off one I had to get straight back on, unless I was hurt. That was the discipline I learned.

"My belief, riding in a race, is that if you do your job right there's not much chance of something going wrong. You've got to rely on the other jockeys to do their jobs right as well, but you can't make their decisions for them."

But, unfortunately for Clenton, the pressure on the body from constant riding in races saw the pain return and in August, 2020, she underwent further back surgery to relieve pressure.

When the pain returned again last year, she saw a doctor in November and was scheduled for the March surgery. It's a waiting game now, before Clenton makes a decision on her future.

She wouldn't be allowed to ride in races again until 12 months after her latest operation anyway, but at least she's back with the horses every day, making the early-morning trip from her Raymond Terrace home to the Lees stable.

"I'm working as a foreman at the moment and really enjoying that," she says.

"I love working for Kris, he's such a good boss. This environment, being around the stable, is natural to me. I'd love to train one day myself."

Lees, who has been a great supporter of Clenton's, with the pair combining for many winners, is happy for her to make whatever decision she feels is right, when she's ready.

"We really missed Samantha around the stable and it's great to have her back," Lees says.

"She's right on top of things and she'll always have a place here, regardless of whether she's riding or not.

"If she wants to ride again I'll support her, but there's a lot for her to consider. She has to decide whether she wants to put her body through that strain again, so it's a big decision. That's something she can work out in her own mind down the track."

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