BOY, DOES SHE HAVE A STORY TO TELL!
By HRO | Wednesday, April 24, 2024
After posting a story and a series of photographs of an incident in the parade ring at the Gold Coast on Saturday, HRO has received many requests asking us to get 'the luckiest strapper of the week' to give her version of those events. Here it is!
A link to the original story can be found at the bottom of the page ... along with a second link which will take you to the photo sequence of the incident
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Photographs captured by www.horseracingonly.com.au photographer Graham Potter at the Gold Coast on Saturday depicted, in part, something simple extraordinary ... a strapper momentarily stranded completely ... and I mean completely ... under a horse that had reared up, with the horses front legs flailing in front of her face, the bulk of the horse’s body seemingly ready to crash down above her head and with the horse’s planted rear legs blocking any path out in that direction.
That, and what happened next, happened so quickly that you really had to go back to the photographs to establish what exactly happened and how the strapper actually managed her ‘great escape.’
Danielle Sullivan, who is the strapper involved, takes up the story from her perspective.
“To be honest, if I didn’t see the pictures, I wouldn’t have known it was that bad,” said Sullivan.
“I knew it was bad, but not that bad. I knew I was underneath him. I could see his front legs in front of my face ... but I didn’t know I was standing upright. He must have leapt up and over me.
“It happened so fast, but I do remember thinking, ‘oh shit’ here we go again, because I have had so many traumas over the years. I thought I’ve done it this time ... and I was just sort of waiting for it.
“The main thing I was worried about during the whole thing was my back. I broke my back five years ago, and I thought if I get my back stood on ... that’s it.
“Then the minute I got out and checked that I was alright, I thought ‘sweet’. I can move everything. I’m fine.”
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“The minute I got out’ ... is a line that oversimplifies an incident which could have turned into a catastrophe.
As the horse starts to come down again, Sullivan instinctively moves to the side but, as the horse’s front legs come back down to earth and he takes a forward step, Sullivan is forced towards the rear of the horse where, quite amazingly, she squeezes her way out between the horse’s rear legs and roils away to safety.
Somewhere, some survival instinct had kicked in, but Sullivan had also needed to have a lot of luck on her side to get out of harms way.
“I have no idea how I did that ... no idea,” said Sullivan.
“I do know that sometimes if you too much to get out of the way you can hurt yourself more, so you have sort of try not to be tense ... yeah, I know that’s easier said than done.
“I guess that’s where the time factor comes in ... where you haven’t got too much time for anything. It’s not like you have got a choice. You are going to get what you are getting.
“I know I shouldn’t think this way, but, just for the moment, I feel I’m a bit invincible having got though all of that.”
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“And there is a story within the story.
While the horse might have sparked the problem, he also played his part in applying his own brand of damage control.
“I have to give the horse some points for not standing on me properly because he could have if he wanted to. He obviously spread his legs to get over me, otherwise he would have stepped on top of me," said Sullivan.
"If you look at the pictures, you can see him widening the space between his back legs ... which allowed me to get out ... and he is looking back at me when he did that, almost as if checking I was alright.
“It would have been easier for him to step on me. It was crazy. I think I tried to suck myself in as small as I could to fit through them.
“And straight afterwards he did the same thing again when Rikki (jockey Rikki Jamieson) fell off.
“You can see where his feet are when she is on the ground. She is just so lucky he didn’t didn’t put any downward pressure when he put his feet down ... it could have been on her head, her hand.
“Her escape ... the way she avoided injury ... was just as lucky as mine.”
Amazing stuff.
“And, no, the photos didn’t bother me ... I wanted to see what happened. I found them fascinating. I might get some of them blown up, because I’m not going to do it again, you know,” quipped Sullivan.
So, all’s well that ends well ... and let’s hope that nobody finds themselves in the shocking position Sullivan found herself in, ever again.
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Original story
FROM THE GOLD COAST ON SATURDAY. HOW THEY ALL MANAGED TO ESCAPE SERIOUS INJURY BEGGARS BELIEF
Photo sequence
GOLD COAST APRIL 20: HOW THEY ALL ESCAPED SERIOUS INJURY BEGGARS BELIEF
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