King Kliese’s Back in Business

Veteran Townsville jockey Graham Kliese knows what it’s like to come back from the brink.

Serious race falls and a long list of injuries haven’t been enough to stop the highly respected hoop from continuing to pursue his love of race riding.

Kliese, 54, is putting yet another bad fall behind him when he returns from three months on the sidelines at Cluden Park tomorrow.

The highly respected multiple premiership winner, with more than 1,223 career winners to his credit, is having his first day back in the saddle since he was sent crashing to the ground in a race at Cluden in October.

For Kliese, the fall was an untimely setback after fighting his way back from falls in 2015 at Home Hill and another in Cairns in 2018 which left him sidelined for almost two years with a shattered leg.

In all three falls the horses he was riding crashed without warning.

His body may have taken a lot of punishment, and recovery is a slower process these days, but in true Kliese fashion retirement has never been a serious consideration.

“It’s good to be finally back. This time I suffered a ruptured AC joint in my right shoulder which has taken three months of rehab,” Kliese said.

“It was unfortunate that it happened. I was having a great run at the time but it doesn’t take long to go from the penthouse to the outhouse in this game.

“The specialist said he would have liked to operate on it, but the time off with an operation was longer, the rehab was way longer than three months.

“It could have stretched out to 12 months, and I didn’t think that was an option for me. 

“If I was younger and planned on riding for another 10 or 15 years I’d have said I’ll have the operation. But after having so long off with the leg - I knew how hard it was to come back from that - I just didn’t have that in me to have the operation.

“I may have thought about retirement if I’d have had to have a year out for recovery. I just chose the shorter option and to let it heal the best it could naturally. At times there’s a bit of discomfort in it but I can still do what I want to do.”

After returning to the saddle in late 2020, Kliese capped a remarkable comeback, winning the prestigious $100,000 2YO Classic on Palencia on his way to sharing the 2020/21 Cluden premiership with Chris Whiteley.

He was again in red hot form before the October fall, recording 10 wins from his last 34 rides. 

Limited to three rides per meeting for the first month under his medical clearance, the veteran will ride good chances Victory For Us in the Carlton & United Breweries BM58 Hcp (1400m) and Our Addition in the Mitavite BM60 Hcp (1000m).

“I’ve ridden a lot of work and barrier trials and really I was ready to get back two or three weeks ago,” Kliese said.

“Victory For Us is a nice ride to kick off with. He’s been working up to a win and Our Addiction will probably come into one alley and he’ll be up there.”

The six-event card at Cluden kicks off with the Magic Millions Gold Coast March 20-21 Maiden Plate (1000m) at 1.44pm.

Pictured: Top jockey Graham Kliese after winning on Heroic Boy for premier trainer Roy Chillemi. He'll be back in business at Cluden tomorrow.

See the racing calendar for upcoming race days.