Tormey, Xiriha suffer breaks after bad fall at trials

Drivers Ellen Tormey and Tony Xiriha are recovering in hospital after a horror fall at the Bendigo trials on Monday night.

Tormey sustained a dislocated and fractured hip, broken ribs and a small tear in her lung while Xiriha sustained a broken collarbone as a result of the incident.

The 34-year-old Tormey provided thetrots.com.au an update on her condition from a Bendigo hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

“Tony just pulled out in front of me and then his horse just hit the deck,” Tormey said of the incident.

“Liam Older was behind me on a big horse and he ran into me, and I’m pretty sure when he hit me my hip popped out.

“Then it must have shot me forward – I must have landed on a shaft or something and that broke my ribs.”

Tormey said she was likely to have a lengthy stay in hospital.

“I’ll go down to Epworth hospital on Thursday and get my hip operated on,” she said.

“It’ll probably be another few days then I’ll probably get transferred back to Bendigo and I’ll have to stay in hospital and do rehab.”

Tormey has driven more than 1100 winners since starting her career in season 2006-07, while 59-year-old Xiriha is a veteran of the sport who has piloted more than 200 winners since the late 1980s.

Ellen TormeyXiriha’s son Ben said his father was still having tests in hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

“The hospital rang up and they spoke to Mum. He’s got a broken collarbone and he’s sore all over,” he said.

“He’s got sore ribs and could have broken ribs, but we’re not sure yet. They’ve still got to do a few more checks on him.”

Liam Older escaped injury from the fall.

by Tim O’Connor, for HRV