For Talia Rodder, life as a jockey on - mostly - the country circuit could mean schlepping to Bairnsdale one day, Warrnambool the next. It could involve 3am starts and 10pm finishes that no-one would count as child-friendly. On-site creches? Never heard of them. Babysitters? For obvious reasons, quite hard to come by.
As a mother, despite the supportive sisterhood of the female jockeys' room, it was difficult to manage. But, given that riding was more of a passion than a job for Rodder, and despite the fact she intially struggled for opportunities after being out of sight and thus out of mind during her pregnancy, the former Israeli army lieutenant found a way.
Rodder, who has ridden around 10 city winners, returned to trackwork seven weeks after the January 2013 birth of her son, Matan, and later that year was part of a delegation to Canberra to successfully lobby the federal government for an exemption to enable female jockeys to access its paid parental leave scheme.
But, more subtly, she found her attitude had changed when she was no longer just a jockey, but also a mother, with parenthood amplifying her concerns about the physical dangers inherent in such a high-risk sport, one that has claimed the lives of two female jockeys in Melbourne in the past six months.
"Yes, well, to put it in a nice way, at trackwork I would say 'well, I can't really afford to get hurt, because would you be there looking after my child and paying my bills?' Whereas before I had Matan there was never a problem; I'd just jump on anything. But after that..." she says, trailing off, before emphasising that she was never "deterred" during races. "When I was on the horse in a race I was solely riding."
In January, at Caulfield, Rodder had an horrific fall during trackwork. "My face basically got ripped open," she says, describing metal pieces embedded in her skull, multiple fractures, the top of her head being shaved to peel her face back during about nine hours of facial reconstruction surgery in two parts, and severe scarring.
Double-vision will prevent her from riding again. "So now I need to get an 'actual' job," says Rodder, as Matan chatters away in his car seat, "which is daunting to say the least."
