Two horses from nasty fall back in winner list

21 weeks ago a spectacular three-horse fall took place in Launceston and two of the horses involved have found the winners circle nine days apart.

On Sunday Major Davvin (pictured) scored his first win since the accident when he led all the way at Carrick Park.

Major Davvin was rushed to the Longford Equine Clinic straight after the fall on 5 July.

“He knocked an artery up between his back legs, the vet on course couldn’t stem the bleeding, so he was rushed off course to the Longford Equine Clinic to be operated on,” said the pacers trainer Steven Davis.

“He had 26 stitches up there to sew him back up and he had another six stitches in a wound down his hamstring, and he also had an open puncture wound on his flank that was probably a couple of inches deep where one of the broken sulkies dug into him” explained the trainer who also took the reins in Sunday’s win.

“His first run back from the fall they got a bit tight on him near the 400 metres, and he wanted to get back out of it. At Burnie his next start he was a bit better so the run at Carrick, even though he was out on his own it will add to his confidence, said Davis.

Driver Adrian Duggan was replacing Steven Davis in the sulky on the night of the fall in Launceston, as Davis had to care for another horse on his property.

Duggan is still recovering from the fall and can now commence “shadow walking” with his crutches.

“I saw the surgeon on Monday and he said that I can start putting a little bit of weight on it (fractured ankle) over the next fortnight and start to build up the pressure gradually,” said Duggan.

Duggan made the trip to Hobart on Monday evening to watch his 15-year-old son Jacob have his first trial drive.

Rockandahardplace who was also involved in the fall bounced back into the winner’s list in Burnie on 20 November.

“It was probably a good four weeks after the fall until he was right to go again,” said Rockandahardplace’s trainer Kent Rattray.

“He took a chunk out of his shoulder about the size of a tennis ball, and we just had to keep that clean.

“More than anything it rattled him about and John Walters said when he drove him his first few starts back that he could feel him a little bit nervy with the horses around him and that he was looking at everything, it has taken a good three months from him to be back near where he was,” explained the trainer.

Rockandahardplace was driven to his Burnie victory by Kent son’s Wade, with connections taking home the second half of their $10,000 Tasbred Bonus.

The fall on 5 July occurred after Canbe Doc broke stride and fell soon after the start.

Connections retired Canbe Doc from racing after the incident and the former pacer found a new home through Tasracing’s Off the Track Program.

Duncan Dornauf for Tasracing