THE sad thing in the spiralling story of Danny Nikolic is that he is not one of life's hopeless mugs.
MATT STEWART reports in the HERALD SUN that Nikolic had the tools and the choices. He wasn't some derro jockey who could barely string together a sentence, whose only asset was a rapport with racehorses.
During appearances before the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board, taking the stand within spitting distance of stewards he has always regarded as put on Earth to stitch him up, the handsome Nikolic was remarkably restrained.
Hour after hour he would calmly pitch his case, rarely flustered, rarely interjecting despite being accused of dastardly things such as threatening not only the chief steward but also his family.
By contrast, chief stipe Terry Bailey always seemed uncomfortable as a witness.
Nikolic can be engaging company, a little mischievous but always respectful.
He adores his daughter and, like many of Mediterranean blood, places family above all else.
The suggestion he had threatened Bailey's family - whether in an irrational rage or not - would have cut deep.
Danny Nikolic was highly successful in the saddle, here returning to scale aboard the talented Mosheen. Picture: Rohan Kelly
Still, Nikolic mostly kept his calm as the accusations were aired, but would stare menacingly at Bailey when he resumed his seat.
He once went ape at a journalist just centimetres from the stewards' room door at Caulfield.
He was accused of acting with menace towards a steward during a break in one of many hearings into his behaviour, at VCAT.
He once left Hong Kong in a huff and ripped off his shirt and theatrically threatened a steward in Mauritius before being kicked out.
He has been the centre of inquiries into alleged tipping or race-manipulating (cleared or unresolved), abusing stewards, swigging beer behind barrier stalls and tossing mobile phones in anger after being pulled up for an illegal riding vest.
In recent years, Nikolic's life has been a succession of racing inquiries, court cases, police grillings, fines, crushing legal fees and the recurring image of the jockey in a suit, striding defiantly towards a carpark as cameras click.
He has migrated from the racing pages to the news pages, this week being found guilty of assaulting another jockey, Mark Pegus, and a police officer. An accusation of assaulting Pegus' girlfriend lingers.
In recent years, Danny Nikolic's life has been a succession of racing inquiries, court cases, police grillings, fines and crushing legal fees. Picture: Nicole Garmston
The cops have closed the book on the notorious Smoking Aces inquiry - Nikolic was the man of most interest - but stewards have not.
Nikolic this week completed a year's suspension for abusing Bailey and can apply to resume track riding.
He still has a year to serve before he can apply to ride in races again, an application that surely will be rejected unless Nikolic uncharacteristically appears before stewards with cap in hand.
Nikolic starved himself to ride at about 54kg. Only jockeys know the mental toll that takes. He "flipped" his food and steamed away whatever "excess" was left.
He has faced constant innuendo and chipping away from police about the unsolved murder of his former father in-law, Les Samba, with whom Nikolic had been close.
The starvation, the pressure have proved the final damaging ingredients for an already combustible man whose victim complex was noted by appeals head Judge Russell Lewis, who pleaded with Nikolic to address his demons before they damaged him beyond repair.
Nikolic is 38 and one of our great jockeys, but he will never ride again.
He is a complex man, honorable in many ways. Yet that one irrational streak, blaming others and detesting rules and rule-makers, has had a chaotic effect. If only those close to him had dared tug his coat.
STORY SOURCE: HERALD SUN - NEWS LIMITED.
