LOOK HOW DANGEROUS THE RACING INDUSTRY IS - FROM JUST TWO TRACKS ACROSS TWO CODES IN 24 HOURS

By Phil Purser

30/07/2012

Ipswich photos Dan Costello - Marburg Phil Purser

Dan Costello captured this amazing photo of Haulage rearing high last Friday in the barriers at Ipswich. The horse didn't bang his head hard on the upright, for as you can see, the padding cushioned the hit. Jockey Dan Griffin, in the well-known Heinrich family colours of "black pink horseshoes, pink sleeves, black cap pink horseshoes", can be seen desperately trying to get out of harms way. But Dan is merely a heartbeat away from not riding for many months - let me show you why.

As the horse Haulage now clears his head from the barriers, a barrier attendant desperately tries to do what he can to save Dan Griffin, whose leg is now jammed at an awkward angle between the horse and the upright. If the horse moves its 550-kilo body to the right by even one inch, Dan's leg will be crushed and fractured, probably in several places. Let's zoom in on the leg.

Caught half way between a rock and a hard place with absolutely nowhere to go. This is a close-up of the angle that Dan Griffin's leg is at - from the previous photo. You can also see Haulage now lashing out with his front legs right next to Dan. If that off side front leg comes down on Dan's leg, you don't need me to tell you what the consequences could be. Whoever made Dan's breeches obviously couldn't spell his surname - but that's another story for another day.

As Dan finally gets his leg free, now there's a further problem, as the horse gets strung up in the gates, through having the saddle wedged over the back gate, as per this photo. Other jockeys can be seen looking on intently, hoping their mounts don't simply go off in sympathy with Haulage, in the maze of steel.

The Chief Steward officiating at the meeting ordered the horse be removed and vetted before being allowed to start, so Racing Queensland vet Martin Lenz inspects Haulage for any injury suffered during the barrier mishap - before giving him the all clear to run.

Go they're racing - and the Heinrich's had two runners in the race - and that's Haulage who has been slowly away and is last in the picture. He eventually ran on to claim third placing at $10, beaten 3.5 lengths, so there was obviously nothing major wrong with the horse.

The mobile barrier has just released the field in Race 2 - the 2012 justracing.com.au Plate - at Marburg last Saturday afternoon and there's plenty of pressure on up front - but it's hard to believe at this point of the race, that only three of the seven starters will finish the event.

The bell sounds in Race 2 at Marburg and the driver on the leading horse, John Stariha, steering Reginaldo, looks across to see Dan Russell to his outside driving It's Jake Day. Pulling out three wide in those black and gold colours is Gary Whitaker on Runemdown. One couldn't imagine that just 150 metres later, "in a heartbeat", Gary Whitaker and John May, who is driving in those dark red colours - will both hit the track and not move a muscle for 10 and 20 minutes respectively. 

This is a photo of Gary Whitaker lying motionless on the track following his fall as the field swung down the back straight for the last time.

Thirty metres further on down the track and John May is also lying motionless on the Marburg track.

Clerk of the Course, Dexter McLean, went into the field and rounded up one of the driverless horses, which he is photographed with here, as a steward hurries down from his stand to assist the fallen drivers.

Stewards ordered correct weight be withheld until they had viewed vision of the race, but eventually gave the correct weight signal.

For the record, the Marburg track is 700 metres in circumference and is 15 metres wide and has a wonderful safety record, but accidents, irrespective of the track size and shape are only ever "a heartbeat away" in racing.

In an extraordinary race, only three horses of the seven starters finished the race and this is driver Pete McMullen returning on third placed Joans Pride - and over the back behind him are the only other two who finished the race - the winner Our Showtime with his trainer driver Ray Cross and the runner-up Reginaldo for trainer driver John Stariha.

After being on the track for about 20 minutes - and not moving an inch for the first 10 of those 20 minutes, Gary Whitaker walks away with the aid of some helpers, as all four people look further up the track and note that Gary's fellow driver John May still hasn't moved. Sadly Gary had to stand down from Group drives that he had at Albion Park later that night - on one of the few opportunities that he gets all year to drive in such black type races. And of course he couldn't drive for the rest of the day at Marburg either, so by Murphy's Law, the horse that he was to drive in the next race at Marburg - in Race 3 - Mister Moseby - naturally bolted in. Thoroughbred trainer Lyn Paton was on course at Marburg and was a worthy late winning driving change for that horse.

And as for John May - well he hadn't even so much as sat up half an hour after the fall. John was taken to hospital by ambulance as per this photo showing him being loaded into the harness racing industry ambulance. John complained of neck pains as he was taken to hospital and I'm sorry, but I can't give you a later update than that.

The Marburg meeting eventually got back underway with the third race running about an hour later than its advertised starting time.

TWO FURTHER BIGGER MONTAGES OF PHOTOS FROM DOOMBEN THOROUGHBREDS AND MARBURG HARNESS LAST SATURDAY WILL GO UP HERE TOMORROW AND WEDNESDAY.