Even at 37, Michael Walker has experienced some dramatic highs and just as painful lows during his career.

But he has never deserted his family nor the beliefs of his Māori tribe. In fact, much of those early years when he was raised by his grandmother has stuck solidly to Walker’s character.

His father was just 16 and his mother 15 when he was born in Rotorua, New Zealand. It was decided by Māori culture that his grandmother would raise the youngster.

Little did they know that at the tender age of 14 Walker went from a little boy in Rotorua to the profile of an international rockstar.

He smashed record after record while those of equivalent age were still ploughing their way through senior school.

At 18 he was the talk of the racing world. It was perceived that no contract was big enough to snare Michael Walker, the man blessed with a perfect physique to be a jockey and his reputation spun around the world.

Today Walker is going through one of his most telling recuperation periods.

In May he crashed to the ground in a race at Pakenham where he suffered severe damage to his leg, which he broke, suffering from compartment syndrome.

Melbourne surgeon, David Young, known worldwide for his work on a variety of sportsmen, performed three operations in five days to save the leg.

“I look down at it now and I think how lucky I have been.  It was touch and go whether they would take the leg off.  And after all these operations the weakness of the leg meant that my next op the knee reconstruction had to see me do pre rehabilitation. I did pre rehabilitation, that means building the leg to a stage that he can operate on.  David had never done a jockey, so he said let’s wait for six months and then have a look how it is,” Walker said.

The Walker story is remarkable. The bittersweet of racing has been handed out to this gifted horseman.

“I just wish I knew then what I know now. I’m 37 – 20 years ago life was so busy, the expectation so high, and eventually I caved into depression.  But life keeps going.

“With it being Māori language week recently, it gives me a special moment to think about the tribal truisms that my Nan passed down to me. You know, I go to pick up the phone to ring her and she’s not there. But my life has gone in many directions. At the age of 10 I went as an unaccompanied minor to Sydney, Australia, to meet my father for the first time. But as I reached my teens and success came my way I resented my parents, resented them for not being there when a young boy needs them. But I repaired those bridges, thankfully. I have two children of my own in New Zealand (plus one in Australia with another on the way) and I work doubly hard to be a father to them because of what I went through.”

Walker has had success that jockeys rarely see. He was an after-dinner speaker at 16, the toast of racing royalty at 18. One minute flying high, the next – literally – crashing to earth in 2008. Walker’s family was told to prepare for the worst during a bedside vigil as he lay in an induced coma at Auckland Hospital.

He tumbled down a steep embankment and then over a bluff, falling some 70-metres before coming to rest in a creek bed in Taranaki bushland. Walker, was on a hunting trip with friends, received head injuries and could not be reached by rescuers until the following day.

Walker has an uncanny knack of surviving so many setbacks.  At the moment he’s counting the days until February when David Young gives the heads up on what 2022 can offer.

He is currently commentating on racing.com and it’s been a strong reaction to the Kiwis presence behind the microphone.

“It’s a different feel, it’s a different position and of course you get that rush of blood that you’d love to be out there, pushing out in the straight trying to win a major spring race.”

“But it can’t be.  But I know what can be because I’ve got my life, I’ve got a special family. I have reconciled with my parents so really getting my licence back will just be the cream on the cake.”