A track photographer should be thanking his lucky stars that he only suffered a broken collarbone this week after being run over by an off-stride Standardbred in a violent collision at the finish line.
As a report which appears on the website of PetaPixel explains, photographer Pekka Salonen was snapping finish-line pictures at a racetrack in Helsinki, Finland on Wednesday, February 18 when he was hit by an off-stride horse.
Video of the incident shows that the horse in question – Laramie Point, who was steered by reinsman Hannu Torvinen – broke stride as the field straightened into the stretch. Torvinen pulled Laramie Point out wide away from the field. Laramie Point continued to gallop out wider and wider down the stretch and ultimately found himself in the path of the photographer.
The article explains that Salonen had stepped out onto the lip of the track to get his perfect shot, just as he has done in his 25 years photographing finish lines, without incident.
The video shows another individual trying to get Salonen’s attention – to no avail – just seconds before the collision. The incident happens around the 3:10 mark of the video.
The country’s second largest newspaper, Ilta-Sanomat, has reported that Salonen only suffered a broken clavicle (collarbone) in the accident and only required an overnight stay in hospital. “A horse is softer than a car,” he was quoted as saying.
(With files from PetaPixel and Ilta-Sanomat)