Racing: Ottley sore and suffering but happy to walk away from horror crash

Messini. Photo / Stuart McCormick

Bruised and battered harness racing driver Samantha Ottley wasn't feeling very lucky yesterday.

Sitting uncomfortably in her Canterbury home, nursing the fractured vertebrae she suffered in a horrific race fall at Methven on Sunday, Ottley won't be able to drive for up to six weeks.

But as much as she loathes that prospect, she knows things could have been much worse. Ottley was catapulted 3m into the air when her drive Maximus Prime steamed into a pile of fallen horses at the top of the straight in race six at Methven.

The accident looked shocking on two levels - not only Ottley's brutal landing but fellow driver Natalie Ramussen being run over by three horses.

Remarkably, Rasmussen walked away and less than two hours later drove Messini to win the Methven Cup.

The 25-year-old Ottley was not so lucky.

"I could see it happening in front of us but he had just started to pick the bit up again and we didn't have time to avoid it," she told the Herald.

"The landing was pretty rough and I woke up today sore in places I didn't know. But at least I didn't have to stay in hospital overnight.

"I have a fractured vertebrae and that means I can't drive in a race for six weeks, so they tell me. It is a terrible time to be out, with Cup week coming up, but I know it could have been a lot worse."

Ottley, one of the most successful young female drivers in New Zealand harness racing history, was as worried about Rasmussen as herself.

"When you see it and see those horses running over Natalie, I can't believe she walked away, let alone kept driving."

The accident occurred when Rasmussen's drive Emmanuel appeared to slip coming off the bend into the home straight, an instance when the field is not only compact but traveling at full speed.

The fact she was able to partner Messini later not only confirms her physical and mental toughness but how lucky she was to survive the trampling.

Messini's win in the Methven Cup, while hardly important compared with the accident a few races earlier, guarantees him a place in the New Zealand Cup on November 10. He is remarkably short with the TAB at $8 for that race, probably more because of the lack of standout form around him than anything else.

The next, and most important stop, on the road to the Cup is the Flying Stakes at Ashburton on Monday.

Meanwhile, last season's New Zealand Cup winner Adore Me has been confirmed in foal to Woodlands Stud's new stallion Sweet Lou after earlier failing to conceive to Christian Cullen.