It was good to see jockey Morgan Butler hobbling around Corbould Park on Sunday.
And no … that is not being nasty. Rather, it is an expression of relief after the terrible looking fall Butler suffered in the last race at Kilcoy on Saturday.
When he didn’t move for some time after crashing heavily to the ground off the back of the Damien Batters trained Blue Pacific, concern for Butler was at a high level, so to see him up and about at the Sunshine Coast races the next day was a really a happy outcome given the circumstances.
“Coming out of the 1200m chute and approaching the course proper, my horse kind of met up with the fence,” explained Butler. “That was about 200m after the start when it appeared to falter a bit behind, took a right-hand turn and caught the rail.
“Once it caught the rail, I came off the side and I ended up in front of the two runners behind me and they caught me.
‘I was knocked out for … I don’t know … maybe fifteen seconds.
“I was quite sore. I could feel my legs were sore straight away … but (thankfully) I could feel them!
“I know when you are in that situation you don’t want to be moving around too much, so I just lay there and waited for the ambo to come,” continued Butler.
“They put me in a neck brace and a pelvic brace … just as a precaution.
“I do have some minor damage. We’re not a hundred percent certain, but I’m got to go for a CT scan on the back of my calf muscle (which had blown up markedly).
“That’s the main issue … both of my calf muscles. There is a bit of shoulder pain, but there are no breaks. They X-rayed my hand and my foot in case there was an issue there, but there were no breaks.
“I’m very sore, don’t worry about that, and it is going to take me a little while to recover, but I’m very blessed to even be able to walk away from that.”
And with a thumbs-up he was on his way … hobbling, but happy … adding to the belief that jockeys are one tough breed.
