Angela Jones is one very lucky jockey … if you can call coming away from a race ride with your face covered in blood from a deep cut caused by a flying horseshoe … ‘lucky’.
The fact is that the incident which occurred in the sixth race at Ipswich yesterday, when Jones was struck by the shoe when riding the $101 chance in betting Deece Scent Miss, could have had far greater repercussions had the shoe taken a more damaging route as it tore away from the off-fore hoof of Campai and travelled back, smacking into Jones’ face,
The speed of that collision of these two entities, magnified by the fact they were moving in opposite directions … and therefore the force of the impact … would have been significant.
“I didn’t see it coming, but obviously I heard it when it banged on my helmet,” said Jones.
‘Sometimes you get hit with a big clod and it’s a bit of a shock to your head, but that is never that bad. With this though, a few strides later I couldn’t see. Things started getting a little blurry.
“I wiped my goggles, but they were filling up with blood, so then I started trying to pull the horse up.
“It was probably lucky it was an 800m race. I guess it’s all over quite quickly. You can take hold and the other horses get away from you quite quickly, so I didn’t have to worry about steering.
“I had to take my goggles off so I could see. I just couldn’t believe how much it was bleeding!
“It was quite dramatic for the little cut it left me with, which is just in-between my eyebrows.
“I was lucky it wasn’t closer to my eye, and I guess I was also lucky it hit where it did, otherwise it could have knocked me out … then I would have been in even more trouble.
“I still had to pay attention to pulling the horse up afterwards and make certain it was alright.
“After that I walked across to the ambulance. When I was just standing there with the blood pouring out of my face, I did get a little light-headed, but I was always fully aware of what was going on.
“It was more blood than pain really.
“A day later … my face is just a little bit swollen. I didn’t come up with a black eye or anything. It is just that little bit of swelling which hopefully will heal up pretty quickly.
“I have passed the cognitive test, so I just have to get a clearance certificate from my GP to ride … and yeah, I expect to be able to take my rides at the Sunshine Coast on Friday night.”
That’s Jones for you … not only talented, but tough.
Who would have thought getting hit in the head by a shoe could enhance someone’s reputation, but that is exactly what it has done for Jones, whose professionalism throughout her ordeal and the positive spirit she displayed could not have been more impressive.
