Trot Insider has spoken with driver Scott Coulter, who on Sunday, June 12 was taken to Hamilton General Hospital after having been involved in a racing accident at Flamboro
Downs. In what was a frightening incident, Coulter was dumped out of his race bike backward and landed on the base of his head.
Coulter, who was driving Fun Factory, got dumped out his bike in Race 11 as the field turned into the stretch. The mishap came as a result of interference from another horse. Coulter was dislodged when his bike was contacted by another bike. He flipped over backwards before landing on the racetrack.
Ashtreos (driven by Paul MacKenzie), who was starting to tire after a first-over bid, was trying to drop down to the rail while an oncoming Walking Proud (James MacDonald) was heading up the pylons and into the same spot. Ashtreos veered back to the outside, and at the same time so did Yankee Mystique (Phillip Giesbrecht) who was parked to that one’s outside. Yankee Mystique’s sulky then made contact with Coulter’s sulky and that lead to him being dumped from his bike.
Coulter laid on track at the head of the stretch before being transported by ambulance to Hamilton General Hospital. The horse Coulter was driving, Fun Factory, was apprehended and suffered no injuries as a result of the accident.
"I went to the hospital and underwent a series of tests and procedures --- x-rays, CAT scans --- and I'm fine. Everything's okay," Coulter told Trot Insider. "They did say that I suffered a mild concussion, but I'm feeling fine and am going to be back in the sulky on Tuesday night.
"I was swinging out wide off the final turn at the head of the lane and a horse came out in front of me. Our bikes got locked up and I ended up falling backward out of the bike.
"I landed on my neck at the base of my head. I wasn't out cold, but I was dizzy and I was out of sorts. Any time you land on your neck or head the way I did there is protocol that the medical crew has to go by: getting out the board, stabilizing the head, that sort of thing."
With the serious nature of the accident, especially with his head and neck being involved, Coulter said that he was very lucky that his injuries were not any worse than what they are.
"Any time you can come away from an accident of that sort without very serious injuries you have to thank your lucky stars. I was very lucky, there is no doubt about that," he said. "You read about the serious injuries that Mark MacDonald and John Campbell have recently suffered, and I'm just lucky."
Coulter told Trot Insider that he would like to send a big thank-you to all that attended to him after the accident, including staff on-track, ambulance attendants and those at the hospital
To view results for Sunday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Sunday Results – Flamboro Downs.
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