Vincent Ho’s green light from the medical team at the Swiss Olympic Medical Centre came on Monday: the test results showed he was okay to ride a horse again. On Tuesday he was trotting and cantering Golden Sixty in an outdoor schooling paddock at Northern Horse Park in Japan; by Thursday evening the Hong Kong Jockey Club had given him the all-clear to ride trackwork at Sha Tin the very next morning.
One ride for Caspar Fownes, one for Francis Lui: the first his old master, the other the man who put him on the great Golden Sixty and brought international recognition his way. His plan was to warm up the horses, gallop one horse, then see how he felt before riding the other. Still steady as he goes for his first day back.
But, with the medical experts satisfied that his health is well, Ho knows he has limited time if he is to be among the jockeys riding at Hong Kong’s season opener on the first Sunday in September. He must find balance within that drive to be race-ready: pushing his body to the levels required of a professional athlete while ensuring he doesn’t go too hard too quickly.
“I’ve not much time left,” he told Idol Horse. “I have to get all the feelings (for race-riding) back after five months off already, and slowly I need to get back into trackwork.
“If everything is fine, I plan to race when the season starts, but of course, if I’m still not ready, I’ll take a little bit more time. Most likely, it should be fine with this two-month plan, but I still can’t be certain about a timeline.”
Ho is known to travel as often as he can. He has often summered abroad, mostly in Europe, since his apprentice days and has a strong affinity with Chantilly in France and with Middleham in England. Now that he can ride again, he is looking at options.
“I’m still planning it but I’ll go either to France in Chantilly or go to the UK, to ride out in the mornings,” he said. “Then I’ll come back to Hong Kong probably mid-August to do some trackwork and some trials, do as many trials as I can, basically to get comfortable with it, physically and psychologically.”
Ho’s five-month spell off the track is all due to a crashing fall at Sha Tin on February 9 that left him with a brain bleed and brain contusion. It was his fourth serious fall inside 18 months and the rehabilitation work and then testing he has gone through to ensure he is well enough to ride again have been rigorous.
On Thursday morning, before the club gave the all-clear for a trackwork return, Ho met with his neurosurgeon and had “a final MRI” which came back clear. But there’s more to it than clear scans.
“When I did all the tests in Switzerland without symptoms, that was so important,” he said. “Even though the scans are clear from concussion, it was a traumatic brain injury, so symptoms can stay – it really depends on the person – but luckily, so far, from all the tests I have taken, I have shown no symptoms.
“I had to do some max-out tests and I’ve got no symptoms, so it’s time to push on,” he added. “I can start to hammer it to get back to race fitness.”
Ho has never stopped working on his fitness during his recovery and every day he has worked and will continue to work on his physical, cognitive and mental fitness. But now he’ll start addressing his weight, too.
“The main focus has been rehab,” he said. “I’ve had to make sure I had enough nutrition for my brain and my body to heal, so I couldn’t care about my weight. From now I can start to slowly drop back to my racing weight. Two months, ideally, that should be fine to achieve that. That’s the plan at the moment. All should be well.”
His latest visit to see Golden Sixty has helped his confidence. But it wasn’t all about having his first ride in five months, Ho wanted to test out a saddle that he has sourced and which the gelding’s owner Stanley Chan wants to buy for the old hero.
“I’m trying to order a showjumping saddle for him,” he said, “so that Northern Farm doesn’t have to use other riders’ or other horses’ saddles. We want a tailormade one for him so I tested out the new line the Italian brand Prestige has. It seems good and he felt comfortable. It’s a nice saddle. He deserves that.
“Saddle fitting is so important for his health, for his longevity, it’s important for him to keep doing exercise and the saddle that fits him perfectly is better for his back and his health.”
Ho knows that fitness and brain health are important for his own career longevity and the ride on Golden Sixty gave him a measure of where he is at with that.
“I felt fine. No symptoms, nothing,” he said. “He’s a horse that I fully trust and I know he won’t hurt me or do anything stupid so I feel safe on him.”
Ho has focused relentlessly, day after day, to get to the point he is at but his desire to up the intensity suggests he is not just aiming to be back race-riding, rather it speaks to his aim being the same as before his fall: to always seek improvement, to push his boundaries and be the best jockey he can be.
“It’s all about getting back or being even better than before, and that will take time and it depends on how I feel,” he reiterated.
“If I do it the right way, step by step, I can recover well and get back to where it was or even better than before, in time.” ∎
