Injured Olympian Sam Willoughby in the colours Lance Justice will wear.
Trots ownership has served up many highlights for Colin Croft and is now helping him cope with a challenge and to honour a grandson.
Mr Croft has celebrated the success of his horses Sokyola and Uncle Petrika and the miracle comeback of Love Ina Chevy, which captivated so many.
Now it’s an incident on another track to his grandson, World Champion BMX rider Sam Willoughby, which has Mr Croft turning back to the trots community.
Willoughby, 25, was training in September when he fractured his C6 and C7 vertebraes in an accident.
“He was trying a new trick out on the track and he came off the back of his bike and broke his neck,” Mr Croft said. “At the moment he is a paraplegic, he can use his arms but he can’t walk and is in a rehabilitation home in Denver. They don’t give him a lot of hope walking.”
The incident prompted Mr Croft to approach trainer-driver Lance Justice, who has nurtured so many of his horses, to honour his grandson.
“The colours that Lance is wearing at the moment with all of his drives are the World Champion BMX colours that (Sam) wore for two years as a junior and two years as a senior,” Mr Croft said. “My son’s (Wayne Croft) horses in South Australia will be racing in them too shortly.”
A silver medallist at the 2012 London Olympics and finalist in Rio this year, Sam Willoughby aims to be on his feet by April 15 so he can walk down the aisle with his fiancée Alise Post on their wedding day. Post is also a BMX world champion and won silver in Rio.
For now Croft's Justice-trained horses, Love Ina Chevy, Hu Hu R U and Iam Aw Sam, will pay tribute to Willoughby when they step out at Victorian race tracks.
Mr Croft is also fundraising for his grandson, with efforts thus far raising about $50,000. To donate go to road2recovery.com/cause-view/strengthfor91/
