One of the country's leading female jockeys is thankful to be alive tonight after she was pinned beneath a half-tonne horse in a freak accident yesterday.
Trudy Thornton was riding at Ellerslie Racecourse when - seconds into the race - her horse suddenly collapsed and died before it even hit the ground.
“I was at the point of no return, it wasn't nice,” says Thornton. “When you think about it, I’m lucky to be alive.”
Thornton was leading the field when her horse The Cosmob suffered a massive heart attack and crashed to the ground - rolling over Thornton's face and upper body.
“I pushed her on the rump with my hand, I knew she was dead,” explains Thornton. “At that point I was struggling to breathe”.
It was only the quick action of track workers that saved her life.
“Basically Trudy was under the horse, from here up she was not visible to us,” says starting gate attendant Trevor Stewart. “He grabbed a rear leg. I grabbed a front leg and we just hauled it off Trudy.”
Thornton was at home today nursing nothing more than a few broken ribs.
“I feel very grateful to the boys,” says Thornton.
Thornton is not only celebrating her own lucky escape, but her daughter’s too.
Samantha was supposed to be riding The Cosmob in yesterday's race, but her mother had to fill in at the last minute after she broke her collarbone in a fall.
“She’s been so blessed and we're so thankful to the people who were there,” says Thornton’s daughter Samantha. “If it had of been me in that situation I’m not sure I'd have come off as well.”
Thornton counts it as the worst fall of her career, but she says it certainly won't be her last.
She hopes to be racing again in two weeks.
3 News