Surreal Experience - Gingernuts' Rollercoaster Ride

The Informant reports:

The first indication that Blair Alexander knew something was amiss with Gingernuts in the final minutes before last Saturday's Emirates Stakes was when a cameraman next to him started getting feed through his earpiece.

Up until then Alexander and his large group of fellow owners and supporters had been making yet another party around their mighty galloper's latest assignment, the A$2 million weight-for-age feature on the final day of Melbourne Cup week.

More of the same enthusiasm for the group of mainly first-time owners that had begun in New Zealand last February, continued through the autumn in Sydney and then to the Hawke's Bay spring carnival.

Along the way there had been disappointments such as Gingernuts' defeat in the Australian Derby and the frustration of a Livamol Classic abandonment that put a line through the Caulfield Cup. But not even an unexpected second in the rescheduled Livamol at the hands of Wait A Sec had diminished the thrill of a trip to Melbourne.

“We arrived in Melbourne - all 42 owners plus family and friends - and soon realised how big it was,” Alexander said. “Taxi drivers knew all about him, so much talk in the press and social media was about Gingernuts, the fresh runner at the carnival, and by the time we rolled up at Flemington and the race came around, it was all on.

“The enormity of it all hit us when the field was in the mounting yard and Jerry had come into favourite, to see him absolutely glistening in the coat, primed for the main event, it was all on.”

As the Emirates field headed around to the 2000-metre start point the large group conspicuous in their orange G-Nuts caps gathered down by the rail and waited. But then Alexander caught the eye of the cameraman nearby, who passed on what one of his colleagues had said: Mick Dee had dismounted from Gingernuts, something terrible was unfolding.

“Where we were standing we couldn't see anything,” Alexander recalled. “All the camera guy could pass on was that a number of people were gathering around Jerry and he was being unsaddled.

“It was all so unreal, then when the pictures began to come up on the big screen it dawned us, but seeing the horse ambulance there and Jerry having his leg strapped, we were starting to fear the worst.

“We were all in a state of shock and when the race did get underway it meant nothing to us. Mick's words when he arrived back that as he was cantering along he heard a loud crack and Jerry was suddenly lame…we knew it had to be pretty serious.”

While co-trainer Stephen Autridge and strapper Kerry Jones went into action directly, syndicate members - minus one receiving medical attention after being overwhelmed by events - were ushered into a room allocated to them by Victoria Racing Club personnel. From there Alexander was able to monitor communications from Autridge, training partner Jamie Richards and Te Akau principal David Ellis, who were back in New Zealand.

“Everyone was great and we knew that Jerry was in expert hands, but the worst part was not knowing how serious it was. Trying to explain to everyone gathered there it could be a worst case scenario - that was the hardest part.

“I can't say enough about how well the whole situation was managed, the way I was able to relay everything I was being told by David, Stephen, Jamie, everyone, to all his owners.”

The Gingernuts Syndicate have since returned to their day jobs, left to reflect on a surreal experience and look to the future in hope. After x-rays taken at the Werribee Clinic on Saturday night had pinpointed a fracture to the upper pastern bone and Gingernuts underwent a CT scan on Monday, surgery under general anaesthetic involved four screws being inserted to bind the fracture and a prognosis of a “better than 50-50” chance he will be able to race again.

“Thinking back we all realise how much worse it could have been, so we have to be thankful for the horsemanship Mick showed when it happened, right through to the job the vets and everyone else have done.

“All that we want to know is that he will recover,” says Alexander. “He owes us absolutely nothing and if the decision has to be made that he won't race again, we'll accept that.  He's become such a part of all our lives, the only thing that matters is him. It's not about the money, not about the big offer we turned down, he's given us all such a fantastic ride.”