Driver hurt in dramatic crash
A driver and his horse appear to have escaped serious injury after a ‘‘phenomenally unlucky’’ three-way crash at Addington Raceway in Christchurch.
Driver Terry Chmiel was catapulted a few metres into the air in the dramatic fall. Chmiel was driving Divinia Bellezza which was caught up in a three-way collision with First Class Lady (Sam Ottley) and Held To Ransom (Robbie Close). The race was called off and re-run about 30 minutes later.
Chief stipendiary steward Nick Ydgren said just after the race started a horse shifted in and caused another driver, Sam Ottley, to be tipped out of her cart. Shortly after Held to Ransom started to pace roughly before falling to the track.
‘‘Terry Chmiel was following that horse and he couldn’t avoid it and he crashed into it and was also tipped out of the cart and he landed on the inside of the track.’’
The two incidents were extremely unusual, he said.
‘‘It’s phenomenally unlucky that there’s been two things like that in the same race. One of those things happening on its own is incredibly rare, so to get two in one race is unheard of.’’
Chmiel was taken to Christchurch Hospital for observation with a suspected ankle injury. Ottley and Close had been checked and were back racing shortly after.
The horses involved had also been checked and appeared to be uninjured, Ydgren said.
The crash was a result of horses ‘‘racing erratically’’ and causing problems for other horses, he said.
‘‘Which can happen when you have horses bunched up like that after a start to a race.’’
A St John spokeswoman said emergency services were called to the raceway. One person had moderate injuries, she said.
Shortly after the Addington crash, two horses crashed to the ground in a gallops race at Ruakaka, near Whangarei.
Jockey Shafiq Rusof was taken by ambulance to hospital, while Danielle Johnson was shown in television pictures with arm in a sling before she too went to hospital for observation The two horses, Tantalising and Boundtobehonored, were reported to be uninjured.