After hitting rock bottom, the popular Newmarket-based rider has his eyes set on G1 targets and a return to Dubai over the winter – once he overcomes a recent injury
Ray Dawson’s story will resonate with anyone who has struggled with addiction.
The 31-year-old jockey has fought his way back not once, but twice. Now, despite facing an enforced break from the saddle through injury sustained at Nottingham in mid-July, he is a beacon of positivity.
In fact, his default setting is chirpy, friendly and approachable. This season, on course to be his best until injury intervened, gave him even further cause to be so, with 30 winners in the UK, following 26 during the winter in the UAE.
Enter a flighty debutante filly named Margoritatime, a fall and a surgeon. “I felt my rib break and originally just thought ‘shit, I’ve broken my rib’ but then 30 seconds later my wrist was numb, so I knew that was broken too,” he explains, in the philosophical way in which jockeys describe pain.
“I’ve broken my collarbone three times, but never my rib or wrist, except for when I was about 10 and fell off my pony.”
Facing a four- to six-week spell without riding, Dawson flew to France to spend some time with his sister and her family.
“There’s always positives, and family life is one of them,” says the father to Lila, four. “Being a jockey, you don’t really have a life outside of racing, it’s very difficult to do anything.
Head would be fried
“I try not to watch racing, because my head would be fried. I try and get away from it for a few weeks and be more of a normal human.”
The injury also means time away from his beloved Shark Tank Hyrox gym in Newmarket, where he goes most days, conducting an intense session which would make many exercise fanatics quiver.
“It is hard because exercise and gym class is a big part of my life,” he says. “I’ve gone from being on the high end of fitness to not being able to do anything – it’s a bit of a shock.”
The gym has been an important part of Dawson’s routine during his second spell in recovery. In 2023, he had his licence suspended for six months after a relapse, which contravened the strict conditions imposed on his licence by the BHA.
“I took my eye off the ball,” he says. “I’ve always had a problem with alcohol and in 2018 I knocked it on the head and I got the help I needed through Sporting Chance and the PJA. I focused on my career and my life got much better.
“I didn’t just pick up a drink and everything went mental straight away,” he goes on. “It was very clever in a way, it kind of slipped me into thinking I could drink normally. The first time it was one, then the second time one and a half or two and then maybe four and it just slowly picked up momentum.
“Within a year I had to drink most days to sleep, to feel normal. Then there’s sneakiness to hide it from everyone, which was an effort, quite exhausting. It all became way too much.
Full of guilt and shame
“I really hit rock bottom around that period. I was full of guilt and shame that I’d got in that position again when things were going so well, and then I’m looking at lengthy time off.”
Plenty would have stayed in that hole, given up on their dreams when gripped by this most destructive of diseases. Not Dawson.
“I just re-engaged; I did what I knew worked before,” he says. “It was harder this time because I’d built up a lot and I lost a lot. I couldn’t go back to Dubai, I couldn’t ride here, there was no money coming in.
“I just had faith that I would be alright and put myself 100 per cent into it and it’s paid dividends. It’s helped me massively in my personal life and consequently my career has gone really well – I’m very lucky, things could have been a lot worse.
“I learned a huge amount, not to get complacent. It was quite scary when I was off work and didn’t know whether I was going to get my career back.
In the right place
“To have what I have today because of recovery and putting the alcohol down, I’m very grateful for it. I’ve got a lot of people to thank, including some great friends who aren’t involved in racing. They are people I speak to daily who keep my head in the right place.”
Dawson rides out four days a week for Roger Varian – “just lovely, a gentleman” – and in November will rejoin the powerful Michael Costa yard in Dubai for the winter.
“I’m lucky that the job in Dubai came back and the connection with Roger and other trainers,” he says. “It took time as I had to regain their trust, but they’ve rewarded me with a lot of opportunities. It’s a life that I don’t take for granted as I did that before and I lost it all, so it’s very important to keep my feet on the ground.
Despite what he has been through, Dawson is unwilling to blame the stress of the job for his problems.
“I don’t think racing has anything to do with it,” he says. “Yeah, it’s a high-pressure job and you can understand that some people could pick up bad habits from it, but I think I would have had an issue with alcohol whether I was a jockey or a lawyer.
“Other people can come home and relax with a drink and their life doesn’t get destroyed by it. Sometimes it would be nice to sit back with a beer after a stressful day, but I’ve accepted that I’m just not the kind of person that can do that. And it’s fine, it’s OK – I like being sober.”
Live in the moment
So, what does he do to celebrate, such as when he rode a five-timer at Jebel Ali in March? “I go out and have a nice dinner or go home and watch the replays or ring my mum!” he says. “My way of celebrating is to reflect on it, feel the joy and live in the moment.”
Dawson’s frankness when talking about personal matters is to his credit, but he has firm reasons. “I don’t speak about this stuff for my own ego or for people to say ‘well done’,” he says.
“I’m not really like that. If people read this and relate to what I’m saying and see that you can change your life, no matter what’s happened, the problems you have. You can achieve that goal and you can get out of that rut. If I can inspire someone to do that then my negative life situation turns into a positive, which is what it’s all about.”
Dawson, who started out pony riding in his native Ireland, has two G2 wins so far, on Zain Claudette in the Lowther Stakes and on Mawj in the Duchess of Cambridge. He’s also struck several times at the top level on Arabians, but a Thoroughbred G1 has eluded him.
“I will win a Group 1 – 100 per cent – hopefully more than one,” he says. “I hope that if I get on the right horses for Michael that will happen in Dubai. It’s very difficult in England, but I will do it.”
When he does, it’ll be a quiet celebration, but one that perhaps means more than most.
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