Joao Moreira calls on HKJC to offer greater assistance for mental wellbeing

Hong Kong’s four-time champion jockey Joao Moreira has revealed to Asia Bloodstock News that he suffered from depression when struggling through the latter part of the 2019-20 season and has called on the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) to match the efforts of progressive jurisdictions around the world in its approach to elite athlete mental wellbeing.

Champion gymnast Simone Biles’ withdrawal last week from Olympic events poured oil on to the hot subject of athletes’ mental health and Moreira has welcomed her words and actions, as well as those of tennis star Naomi Osaka and Olympic swimming great Michael Phelps. He believes the HKJC can do more in its wellbeing provision for those who put their bodies and minds on the line to keep its mammoth turnover rolling.

The multiple champion in Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong said previously that his “mind was destroyed” when long-standing injuries and loss of support affected him psychologically, leading to a wilting defeat in the title race in July 2020.

“From a performance perspective, I lost confidence and I could see that coming,” he elaborated. “But when you’re under depression you actually can’t find ways to change your mindset. When you start telling yourself ‘I can’t do it’ or ‘I’m trying but it’s not happening’ it’s like a devil in your mind telling you you’re not capable, that whatever you try again, it’s not going to work.

Joao Moreira: 'When you’re under depression you actually can’t find ways to change your mindset'Credit: Alan Crowhurst

“You don’t feel like getting out of your home, you don’t feel like doing anything. All you want to do is hide in the darkness. You want to just lock yourself into a room, making sure the curtains are closed so not much light from outside comes in. Things become very difficult.

“It is an issue people here aren’t looking to enough and the consequence is that people are dealing with these [mental] effects that can have consequences for the rest of their lives.

“I’ve been shouting about it, but apparently my voice is quite small, so I’m happy that a big person in the world of athletes like Simone Biles is actually expressing it. Doing it bigger and louder and making sure the world is listening.”

Athlete wellbeing has emerged as a powerful concern in 2021, brought to the surface, perhaps, by the added strain of life in a global pandemic and intensifying scrutiny, not least through social media. Professional sports bodies are more aware that the wellbeing and psychology of their participants needs attention and a number of jurisdictions within horseracing have already made good progress in ensuring provisions are in place.

A paper published last October in the peer-reviewed journal The Physician and Sportsmedicine, and supported by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), looked into common mental disorders among jockeys. The research found that from a sample of 84 Irish jockeys, almost four out of five had at least one common mental disorder, while 35 per cent met the criteria for depression.

The study, which numbered among its authors Dr Jennifer Pugh, the IHRB senior medical officer, and her predecessor Dr Adrian McGoldrick, also found that what it termed “burnout dimensions” – emotional exhaustion, devaluation and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment – along with career dissatisfaction and thinking about retirement, increased the likelihood of mental distress and anxiety.

Being a jockey is tough mentally as well as physicallyCredit: Edward Whitaker

Ireland is among the front rank of jurisdictions supporting jockeys – as well as trainers and other industry employees – with a raft of increasingly visible and easily accessed pathways to assist mental health and wellbeing.

Asian racing’s governing bodies, however, appear to be lagging, including the HKJC, which has done so much to advance jockey welfare on the physical side with investment into research leading to important advances in health and safety.

When Asia Bloodstock News asked a senior HKJC executive for details about mental health support for its jockeys, a response via email said: “The Club has a team of four doctors actively involved with every aspect of a jockey’s physical and mental wellbeing, easily accessible on a confidential basis.”

But when Moreira sought psychological support from the HKJC, he says he experienced little active involvement. What the HKJC provided fell short of his hopes. He found himself in an awkward consultation in a shabby building in the Mong Kok district, with an HKJC-referred psychologist who “knew nothing about horseracing” and was a generation removed from the rider.

“He didn’t help me much at all,” Moreira said. “Nothing against that person but the feeling between him and me wasn’t there. I struggled with him being unable to understand me, he was local Chinese and the language, understanding the meaning behind my words, was a problem.

“I was actually happy that the Jockey Club tried to help me but they didn’t try as much as they should have. They have a physiotherapist for us and they have John O’Reilly who is a nutritionist and these guys make sure that physically we’re healthy, but the Club has put this psychological element away to the side; maybe they don’t think it’s that important.”

After his negative experience with the HKJC’s suggested psychologist, he rested instead on the help he received from his wife, Taciana, and the support of his children. Moreira recovered and won his fourth Hong Kong premiership this past season, his first since 2017.

“I just pushed through,” he said. “I put it to the Jockey Club that they should make available a dedicated psychologist because some riders here are much better than what they’ve been doing and they haven’t been able to produce because of these problems. I don’t think the Jockey Club sees it as an issue.”

Neil Callan: spoke of mental health when riding in Hong KongCredit: Edward Whitaker

Neil Callan, Hong Kong racing’s ‘Iron Man’, believes he was met with that same attitude when he presented to a show cause hearing earlier this year – convened as a result of his behaviour during a race night stewards’ inquiry at Happy Valley – which resulted in a lengthy suspension. The Irishman put to the panel that his behaviour was the result of mental stress: battling to secure rides in a highly-pressured, unforgiving and unrelenting environment, while living through stringent Covid restrictions with his young family.

The lawyer representing the HKJC allegedly responded in a way that Callan took to mean that if he could not handle the pressure, he should not be there. That line echoed closely what has reportedly been said behind closed doors by the most senior of the organisation’s executives. In fact, a common line trotted out in that quarter during the weeks of Moreira’s excruciating capitulation in 2019-20 – repeated often thereafter within the HKJC bubble – was that the Brazilian’s weakness of mind meant he was not a real champion, unlike his eventual conqueror, Zac Purton.

Attitudes and practices are more helpful elsewhere. The Australian Jockeys Association has ensured that a sports psychologist is available to all riders in every State/Territory. Victorian racing was among the first globally to introduce mental wellbeing support for jockeys and other industry participants, and the Victorian Jockeys Association (VJA), in tandem with Racing Victoria (RV), has the Jockey Assistance Programme (JAP), a free and confidential service for Victoria’s 65 licensed jockeys, retired jockeys and their immediate family members.

The programme has been running for about 15 years. It is co-ordinated by sports psychologist Lisa Stevens who heads Racing Mind. The confidential service offers a suite of 24-hour assistance including counselling and addiction recovery. The uptake for support amounts to about 1,200 hours per year.

“It’s an athlete-specific programme,” said Matt Hyland, chief executive at the VJA. “In the current environment, given the pressure of the job and in recent years the emphasis on mental health, especially in sport, and the freedom to come out and speak about mental health, the uptake is significant.

“It’s funded through the one per cent of prize-money that is allocated to jockey welfare. That one per cent is a significant amount of money and is made up mostly of insurances managed by Racing Victoria, but part of it also is the JAP.”

In Britain, the British Horseracing Authority has partnered with the mental health charity Mind and has signed up to the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation, as have the Professional Jockeys Association (PJA), Racing Welfare, National Association of Racing Staff and the National Trainers Federation.

The Victorian programme has moved to a proactive approach and that is mirrored in Britain and Ireland. The PJA in Britain offers a range of services: it has teamed with Sporting Chance and its network of sports-specific counsellors, providing an emergency helpline as well as free support and rehabilitation to active and retired jockeys for addiction issues; it also has close connections with the Injured Jockeys Fund’s Changing Minds programme; and it provides a dedicated sports performance consultant, former jockey Aodhagán Conlon.

Paul Struthers: 'We’ve done a lot of work in terms of breaking down the stigma around talking about mental health'Credit: Edward Whitaker

“Providing free access to Aodhagán is an important area of proactivity, we encourage jockeys to use sports psychology,” said Paul Struthers, chief executive at the PJA.

“We’ve done a lot of work in terms of breaking down the stigma around talking about mental health and wellbeing and we’ve now got a world class provision for our jockeys that compares favourably to other professional sports.”

The PJA also connects with the Injured Jockeys Fund, which integrates a clinical psychologist into its physical rehabilitation programmes at its three facilities. And, in line with programmes in Australia and Ireland, apprentices undertaking mandatory licensing courses have mental health and wellbeing elements integrated with their learning.

Approximately one-third of PJA members received one-to-one support in 2020, either through the PJA programmes directly or via the IJF rehab centres.

Five years ago, Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) launched its Industry Assistance Programme to cover the entire industry but it also has the Jockey Pathway, which includes the services of a sports psychologist.

“We’ve made a lot of progress with sports psychology: it had been taboo, no one wanted to tell anyone they were seeing the sports psychologist but we certainly have broken the stigma quite a bit,” Dr Pugh said.

As in Britain and Australia, that has come about by improving mental health literacy via coordinated campaigns as well as by connections through the jockeys’ traditional support structure around the weighing room. Within the last two months, a new approach was introduced in Ireland, a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) app with a journaling element. Videos and questionnaires help jockeys – whose anonymity is protected – recognise and deal with an issue. Sixty-two jockeys have registered so far.

“We launched it using various jockey WhatsApp groups and did a video promotion of it. It’s on their phone and they can do this in their free time and we’ve had huge engagement based on the numbers we can see. It’s another positive step,” Dr Pugh added.

Joao Moreira: 'Horseracing is a game of pressure'Credit: Vince Caligiuri

Moreira is hoping for similar positive steps from the HKJC for its cohort of around 25 riders. In raising his concern, though, he is not downplaying the requirement of mental strength and combative spirit among athletes, not least on the competitive Hong Kong circuit.

“Those who find ways to toughen up and psychologically strengthen up are those who can last longer: simple,” he said. “If you can be strong, you’re going to last long. If you’re weak, you’re going to collapse and you’re going to get kicked out, or you’ll quit yourself.

“Horseracing is a game of pressure. Can you handle it? If you can’t, you’re in trouble: you’re out. This is sport. You can have the talent and be lucky enough to get in but to stay there, you have to be mentally strong because sooner or later you’ll feel pressure and then you’ll see how tough it is.”

But his own experience has shown him that, as with Biles, some proven champions do struggle with their mental wellbeing in the heat of competition. That being so, he fears for the majority of jockeys working just as hard, training to maintain peak fitness, managing their business, losing rides, facing media and social media backlash, under the added burden of using starvation and dehydration just to compete, all for far less rewards.

“The thing is, it is an issue that is real and whoever raises the issue should be listened to, not criticised,” he said. “And those who have the power to do something should act.”

Read more on this subject:

Call for ex-jockeys to be given lifetime racecourse access to aid mental health

Financial pressure and a relentless workload: how a rider's life takes its toll

'I wasn't able to cope' - ex-rider Kevin Tobin reveals mental health battle

Radio documentary on Sunday puts jockeys' mental health under the microscope

Study finds 79 per cent of Irish jockeys meet criteria for a mental health issue

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