Thomson’s shock injury
Two toes partially lost in gory stable incident
LEADING north Queensland jockey-trainer Bonnie Thomson always leaves it all out on the track when she is riding.
And, this month, she left a little more than she expected down at the paddock when she was feeding one of her horses.
To put it bluntly, she left two toes floating in the horses’ water trough.
It was the Thursday afternoon last week before Townsville’s Cluden Park was set to race the following day.
The experienced Thomson had another strong book of rides for that day, as she usually does, before veteran gelding
Around The Moon decided to give her trainer a month or so on the sidelines. The eightyear-old bay took fright at something, jumped sideways, landed on Thomson’s foot, leaving her in excruciating pain with blood everywhere.
Let’s just let the 42-year-old mother-of-three explain what exactly happened:
“The toe next to my big toe, it is split down the middle, which I have lost half of that one, it was taken cleanly from my foot. The next toe, the middle one, they have taken the top half of that one, but then the next one, they have saved that one.
“I have no marks on the top of my feet, all of mine are underneath, which is unusual.
“It was not very nice seeing two toes floating in the water after I tried to clean all the blood off in the trough.”
Thomson lost plenty of blood from the incident, which is expected to have her on the sidelines for another month, in what doctors described as a “freak accident” to lose half of two of her toes.
“It got me right on the point of the toe, it was lucky I did not lose more of my foot,” she said. “It was excruciating pain.” While she cannot ride at the minute, that does not mean Thomson’s training duties have stopped, having runners at Mackay on Thursday and will debut a first-starter on Saturday on her home track.
The stable’s efforts at the sugar city on Thursday included a winner, as well.
Thomson would like to be riding Beautiful Tune herself if she was not hurt.
The two-year-old chestnut filly steps out for the first time in the QTIS Two-year-old Maiden Handicap (1000m).
“She is quite a nice filly, she is still raw,” she said. “The Star Turns are showing a bit so hopefully she can go well.”