Nasty fall but all okay

Central Victorian harness racing driver Glenn Douglas admits he’s lucky to have escaped with just a few bruises and scrapes from a nasty race fall at his home track of Bendigo last night.

Whata Journey, trained by Douglas’s wife Julie, overraced then choked down and crashed to the track, cannoning into the trailing runners during the running of race seven, which was subsequently declared a No Race.

The incident happened when Whata Journey choked down and then blundered coming around the home corner to get the bell. The horse veered sharply up the track taking out EmJay’s Black Chip (Jack Laugher) and causing severe interference to Bona Khan (Glenn Conroy) Conspirator (Zac Phillips) and Glenns of Tekoa (Ellen Tormey).

“I knew what was happening and tried to get the horse down into the sprint lane, but when she launched the other way, I knew we were in trouble,” Douglas said this morning.

“I was more worried about Jack (Laugher) because my horse landed pretty solidly onto him at one stage – I remember hoping he hadn’t copped a broken leg out of all this,” he said.

Only five runners were left in the race, but with Whata Journey still down and other runners scattered across the track, stewards immediately called off the race, and later declared it a No Race.

Drivers were checked at the track, and none were taken to hospital, and all of the horses came through the incident without serious injury.

“Our horse got treated at the track and then again at home. She seems okay, but she’s got a few abrasions and we’ll send her out for a bit of a spell as a precaution,” Douglas said.

It’s certainly not Glenn Douglas’s first racing tumble, but he admits the track surface seems to be a little more unforgiving these days.

“I got bowled over a few times in the fall. The body is getting old and to come out of a tumble like that without anything serious is pretty good going! But tomorrow might tell a different story!” Douglas laughed.

By Terry Gange for Harnesslink