Jockey Robbie Dolan felt defenceless when his baby girl was in hospital. So he sang to her

Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan has always loved performing, whether it be singing to superstar Rita Ora in The Voice Australia blind auditions, or last year storming to Melbourne Cup glory in front of 90,000 people at Flemington.

But for the past three years, Dolan’s soothing tones are reserved for one special person – his daughter, Maisie.

Born prematurely at 25 weeks, Maisie spent more than 110 days in a neonatal intensive care unit in Liverpool Hospital in New South Wales – an agonising and tumultuous period for Dolan and his partner, Christine. Dolan sang to his daughter every day and night, a tradition he still continues.

“I sing to her all the time, especially that song River by Leon Bridges,” he told this masthead. “For some reason, whenever I sing that, she just looks at me. Obviously, anything by The Wiggles is pretty good as well.”

Dolan visited Fitzroy North’s Ronald McDonald House on Tuesday morning ahead of the Caulfield Cup on Saturday.

The Irishman is hoping to ride the Ciaron Maher-trained gelding Royal Supremacy in the $5 million race on Saturday. The horse is currently an emergency.

The decorated jockey posed for pictures alongside the 18-carat Melbourne Cup trophy – the race he sensationally and unexpectedly won last year on Knight’s Choice.

“It’s funny because as a jockey, you’re always looking forward,” he said. “But the Melbourne Cup is one of those races where, for me anyway, I’m always looking backwards on it going like,‘This is unbelievable’.

“It’s pretty special and there’s definitely a presence about it. A lot of jockeys never even get the chance to experience the race, and I’ve been lucky enough to win it.”

Dolan recalled meeting trainer Sheila Laxon on a P&O Melbourne Cup-themed cruise ship off Australia’s east coast four years ago. The then lounge singer and aspiring pop star asked Laxon for a photo and told her he was a jockey.

“She had no idea who I was,” Dolan laughed. “But I said, ‘If you ever have another runner in the Melbourne Cup, I’d love to ride it’.

“Fast forward a few years... we ended up winning the Melbourne Cup together.”

During his visit to Ronald McDonald House – an organisation that provides accommodation and support for families with sick children – Dolan met with several families.

He reflected on his daughter’s three-month stay in hospital, pausing at times to wipe away tears.

“My daughter was in hospital for over three months, the first three months of her life,” he said. “You know, we didn’t know if she was going to make it or not. When she was in there, I dreaded going, I absolutely hated going in there because it was emotional, it was tough.

“That’s why somewhere like this [Ronald McDonald House] is so special, because it doesn’t feel like a hospital. It feels like a family.”

Dolan acknowledged the staff and doctors at Liverpool hospital, saying his daughter “would not be here without them”.

Now fully recovered, Maisie is a happy little girl and Dolan joked she does “exactly what she wants to do, whenever she wants to”.

“Maisie’s nearly four years old, and she’s an absolute lunatic,” Dolan laughed. “She loves The Wiggles, and she’s a legend really. So, it’s pretty special.”

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