NYAH West jockey Madison Lloyd is recovering after falling from her horse Divine Turf at Camperdown on Saturday.
It happened at the 200m mark in the $27,000 Brandt Terang Maiden Plate over 1600m, pitching the 23-year-old to the track, narrowly avoiding other horses.
Stewards announced shortly after that the bruised and battered Lloyd had been stood down from the rest of the meeting – costing her a ride in the Camperdown Cup on the well-supported Anphina.
Lloyd took several tumbles before ending up flat on her back, where she was soon surrounded by ambulance staff and track officials.
Finally becoming a senior jockey just weeks ago, Lloyd had an extended apprenticeship to make up for time lost due to a string of injuries she suffered at the time.
Those included a broken leg, which did not stop her winning the prestigious Wangoom Handicap at Warrnambool, and in a separate incident, a broken hand.
She has had a number of falls, and a bad one at Dunkeld, which saw her sidelined for several weeks.
Lloyd’s condition will be monitored by Racing Victoria, but its spokesperson said that apart from some minor bruising, Lloyd appeared to be fine.
It had been a very different story just 24 hours earlier when Lloyd was steering race favourite The Autumn Belle to victory at Geelong in the $27,000 Prestige Jayco Sale over 1741m.
Straight after the race, a jubilant Lloyd described the filly as “so push-button, and a delight to do everything with”.
“I knew there would be a fair bit of pace in it today but I didn’t think they would go as hard as they did, but Belle was her usual off the bridle self, although we were a bit closer than we have been in some of her starts,” Lloyd said.
“When I pressed the button I had plenty of horse underneath me and we had to take a small gap – and thank heavens she is push-button because she took it like a champion and was very good through the line.
“She’s better than this grade but we will just work through and see how far she can go – and I think Henry (trainer Henry Dwyer) knows it will be hard to keep me off her in the future.”
Also at Geelong, Swan Hill jockey Harry Coffey was riding Capulet for the McEvoys in the $27,000 Ritchie Brothers Stakes over 1330m and while he might have been the favourite, that didn’t make the outcome a lay down misere.
Coffey and Capulet had to chase the frontrunning Albanian Star the full length of the straight to get up by barely a half head.
“Yeah, the post just got there in time,” he grinned.
“Because gee, the frontrunner was tough, but our little filly is very honest, tries hard, and she knew where the post was and knew how to get the job done.
“I’ll be suggesting to the McEvoys we keep winning with this horse – and with me in the saddle. That’s what I’ll be suggesting.
“But she is very honest, she tries hard and always turns up at the races and puts her best in.”
