Out of the ashes – stable fire survivor beats the odds

It’s almost 12 months since promising yearling Chilli Punter (Betting Line) was left fighting for her life after a horrific stable fire that killed 12 horses at a Victorian harness racing property.

The promising youngster was never expected to make the track as a result of her injuries – but at her very first start this week, Chilli Punter showed all of her fighting qualities and grit to score a fairytale win.

Trainer Jemma Hayman and her partner Ross Olivieri have certainly enjoyed bigger victories than a two-year-old maiden at Pinjarra (June 19) – but there’s not likely to be any that are more emotional.

To watch the race replay, click here.

“You never forget that phone call. It’s one you never want to receive, and it was just devastating,” Jemma said.

“As well as the injuries Chilli Punter had, we lost a colt in the fire. It was a terrible incident and I think everyone in harness racing in Australia felt the devastation that day,” she said.

After buying Chilli Punter in the 2022 yearling sales, Ross and Jemma sent her to the stables of Rita and Monique Burnett and family at Forbes, near Kilmore, for breaking in and education.  She was one of dozens of horses, many of them youngsters, in the complex when the fire broke out on July 8 last year.

The Burnetts were able to let horses loose who were closest to the stable entrance, among them, Chilli Punter.

“It’s still terrible to think what they were confronted with and the devastation they went through that night – they did everything they could and tried their best to save as many horses as they could,” Jemma said.

“Chilli Punter was one of the first ones they could get to, and they got her out.  She just had a scald on a hind leg where she possibly hit it on a hot rail, but no third-degree burns.  It was smoke inhalation that was her enemy,” she said.

“With a stable fire there’s lots of fuel of course, with feed and rugs and wood, and the horses are contained in a building structure, so the smoke damage to them is much more intense, because it’s all encapsulated inside a barn.

“When the attending vet got to her, she was in a depressed state with her head down.  Her heart rate was 120 and her respiratory rate was 90 breaths per minute, and she had blood coming from her nostrils. She was in a pretty bad way.

“The vet recommended that she be euthanised straight away, but to Rita and Monique’s credit, they said they couldn’t allow that until they talked to us, because we’d already lost a colt and they felt we had to be allowed to make a decision.”

The seriousness of Chilli Punter’s condition and clinical signs were all too clear to Jemma, who’s is a vet herself.

“Everything flies through your head when you get that call. Initially you’d have to say the prognosis was pretty poor but we decided to take the chance and get her the best care we could,” Jemma said.

Chilli Punter was treated onsite, then taken to the Avenel Veterinary Hospital.  She spent the first 24 to 48 hours in intensive care, with an oxygen tube to help her breathing.

“The scanning of her lungs was quite bad and there were absolutely no thoughts about any sort of athletic career. We knew her lungs mightn’t handle racing, but she was just a yearling and had her whole life ahead of her, so maybe she would be just living in a paddock, or as a riding horse or a broodmare, but she was alive.

“She hung in there and she started to make small improvements and we just took each day as it came.  As the days went on, every 24-hour window there was more improvement.

“Once the vets were happy with her condition, Chilli Punter continued her rehabilitation in the care of Rita and Monique before, five months later, and after a final vet check she was given the all clear in December for the trip to WA.

“We really had no expectation of her ever getting to the track when she got home, but she was in fabulous condition.  She seemed really, really well, and we got her fully checked by Murdoch University, where I used to work and they gave us the all-clear to resume her training in January,” Jemma said.

“It was just one step at a time for her, but everything we asked of her she did. She did have a little setback with some ‘equine acrobatics’.  She took a tumble, and we sent her over to (breaker) Shane Young to give her a freshen up on her education.  Six months off is a long time in the life of a young horse, and after all the trauma she had been through, we basically just wanted to give her every chance to get her confidence back.

“He did a lovely job with her and once she came back here she didn’t miss a beat.  She got through fastwork, then some education trials, then we thought we’d try qualifying her.  It all went well, and she just kept progressing, right through to thinking ‘okay, let’s give her a try at the races’.

“When she won, it was just the most surreal feeling. We would have been happy if she had just been able to run her race and do her best.  But she showed all that toughness and grit in her run, and afterwards she wouldn’t have blown a candle out – all her signs were good.  You wouldn’t know what she’s been through.  She is just amazing.

“A couple of senior surgeons that I worked with always used to say: ‘never say never with a standardbred’.  She’s proved that well and truly!

“I think it’s a reminder too about the healing potential that a young horse has – it mightn’t have been the same for an older horse, but a young horse with a fresh set of lungs really healed herself.  All she needed was a lot of time to let the body do what it needed to do, and Doctor Green Grass!”

Jemma said the win had also been emotional for Rita and Monique, and everyone at the Burnett stables.

“We collected some gear at the time of the fire and people in WA donated some money.  I took the chance to take that all over and see Rita and Moni, and the horse,” Jemma said.

“They are such lovely people and a lovely family, and this is just a really nice result for them, too, after everything.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink