A horrific three-horse fall during the first attempt of the Lee’s Orchard Pace marred the eight-race card in Launceston on Sunday night.
Canbe Doc driven by Conor Crook galloped soon after the start and fell with Rockandhardplace driven by John Walters and Major Davvin who was driven by Adrian Duggan, all falling and losing their drivers.
The race was called off straight after the incident.
Drivers Conor Crook and Adrian Duggan laid on the track and were attended to by Medical Edge and Tasmanian Ambulance staff before being taken to the Launceston General Hospital.
Adrian Duggan was unconscious for several minutes and he underwent surgery last night on a compound fracture to his ankle and is awaiting further scans.
Duggan was a late call up to drive the pacer after regular driver and the pacers trainer Steve Davis was attending to another horse on his property.
Conor Crook, who was also unconscious for several minutes, remains in hospital for observation and is in good spirits.
Driver John Walters was originally passed clear to fulfil his four remaining driving commitments. In the early hours of Monday morning however, he admitted himself into the Launceston General Hospital and has since been discharged with ligament damage.
Both Canbe Doc and Rockandahardplace escaped serious injury.
While Major Davvin was transported to the Longford Equine Clinic and operated on, trainer Steven Davis said that the pacer is expected to make a full recovery and he was very appreciative of the work conducted by the vets involved.
Canbe Doc has been stood down from racing for 28 days and will have to complete four consecutive satisfactory trials before being eligible to race again.
The race was rerun 70-minutes later with the three horses involved in the fall declared late scratchings with the Michael Laugher-trained Emjays Black Chip registering his first win in 13-months.
It was a night for short price favourites with three horses winning at red figures.
Agouda Ruler was a strong winner of the two-year-old event scoring at $1.90.
It was the Betterthancheddar geldings fourth career win at start six.
Kosimo was sent out the $1.22 favourite in the Longford Equine Clinic Pace, and the Mark Jones-trained pacer didn’t let favourite punters down scoring by 4.1 metres.
The last short price favourite to score was Cool Water Paddy who bounced back to the winners list at odds of $1.75.
