Mick On Monday: Te Rapa tumble leaves ace apprentice sidelined

Ace Lawson-Carroll remains in Waikato Hospital after the four-horse accident at Te Rapa on Saturday. Photo / Trish Dunell

What was bad could have been so much worse at Te Rapa on Saturday.

Because while popular apprentice Ace Lawson-Carroll faces a long stint on the sidelines after a horror fall in race four, the other three jockeys dislodged and all four horses involved appear to have escaped without serious injury.

Promising Japanese apprentice Yuga Okubo pleaded guilty to a careless riding charge and was suspended for five weeks after moving his mount Ribkraka from outside the leader down to the rail when not sufficiently clear of Illuminated Miss at the 950m mark.

Illuminated Miss, ridden by Ashlee Strawbridge, clipped the heels of Ribrakka and crashed to the ground with I Park, ridden by Lawson-Carroll, brought down, as was Gracetheace (Rihaan Goyaram), while Gina Rosa was severely hampered and threw rider Hayley Hassman.

The accident was graphic, happening at near full speed – and while the Te Rapa track thankfully had plenty of give in it, with horses contacting fallen jockeys on the track, the end result could have been disastrous.

In a very rare ruling, Ribkraka was disqualified from his second placing and Okubo was docked his riding fee.

While all four apprentice jockeys were taken to Waikato Hospital, it is Lawson-Carroll who has already required surgery and will need more.

Lawson-Carroll’s boss Shaun Clotworthy updated LoveRacing on the 20-year-old’s condition yesterday.

“He’s in Waikato Hospital and had an operation on his femur last night, they were a bit worried that it may be cutting off some blood circulation so they operated on that,” he said.

“I believe he has to have an operation on his hip and his shoulder, so he’s got a couple more to go.

“We’ve spoken to him this morning and he’s pretty positive, his partner is up there with him now and [Clotworthy’s wife] Emma’s been there today, and I think we’ll go in after the races today.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to the surgeons yet, but when I go in, I’ll hopefully be able to have a chat and see what sort of rehabilitation and recovery he’ll be doing.

“He’s a fit young man, with a positive attitude.”

New Zealand Jockeys’ Association spokesman Andrew Lacy shared further updates on Strawbridge, Goyaram and Hassman.

“I have been in contact with each of the jockeys, and all three are doing well under the circumstances,” Lacy said.

“Rihaan has a pretty sore lower back at the moment and will be having an X-ray on Monday.

“Hayley has a significant haematoma on her left lower leg, thankfully there were no breaks, but she has remained in hospital for close observation.

“If she continues to improve, she may be discharged this afternoon [Sunday], but is unsure of recovery time at this stage.

“Ashlee is very battered and bruised, but her scans and X-rays have all come back clear. She will be heading back to the fracture clinic next week to double check, but it is looking positive at this stage.”

Racing at Te Aroha yesterday was on the whole tamer, even with six jumps races, with Leitrim Lad winning the $40,000 Te Aroha Veterinary Services Cup for trainer Eamonn Green and jockey Emily Farr.

Very promising jumper Billy Boy survived a bad landing at the second fence to win his first-ever steeplechase and remain unbeaten in four starts over fences.

His trainer Jo Rathbone confirmed Billy Boy will not head to Riccarton for the Grand National meeting, which starts this Saturday, instead returning to Te Aroha for the Great New Zealand meeting in late September and probably having a flat run in between to keep ticking over.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.