Perhaps one of the most common things we often take for granted is how quickly life can change for us in the blink of an eye. Maritime horseman Mike McGuigan is certainly counting his lucky stars after he was recently involved in a severe car accident just five minutes from his destination.
McGuigan recently recalled the events of July 26 that have him sidelined for a minimum of eight weeks.
“I work security at Red Shores, I’ve worked there for 15 years now,” McGuigan told Trot Insider. “On that evening on my way back to work the fog was thick and heavy -- the worst I have ever seen in my entire life, I really couldn’t see anything in front of me. I met a car coming head on which startled me, I just looked at my mirror and looked back up and at that point I missed the road and went right through an intersection.
“I went down an embankment about eight feet down and about 100 feet in,” continued McGuigan in a somber tone. “When I looked down at my foot, the blood was coming out so bad, but I was so far down and into the embankment that with how heavy the fog was no one would have seen me. So I had no other choice but to crawl out and through the marshy area I was in back up to the road.”
The York, P.E.I.-based horseman had Steve Jobs and a company based out of Cupertino, Ca. to thank for getting him to safety.
“I always have my phone on the dash of my truck, when I went down the embankment my phone smashed against the windshield and smashed to pieces. I was able to get Siri to call 911 hoping that it would send them my location and by the time I had crawled back up to the road a First Responder was just arriving. I’m not really sure how long I was down there because I did smash my head pretty good, but I would say it took me about 20 minutes to get to the road.”
Fortunate to survive such a harrowing ordeal, McGuigan did suffer rather serious injuries as a result of the single-vehicle accident.
“I broke my lower tibia and fibula bone and my ankle. I also broke three of my toes and three bones in my foot and a vertebrae in my back. They put 17 staples in my foot from where the bone came through my foot. It will be eight weeks for sure before I will be able to put weight on my foot at all. I just had a new cast put on that is more permanent as my other cast was one that would allow my foot and leg to expand with swelling. Now that the swelling has somewhat subsided, a fiberglass cast was put on. It will stay on for the next four weeks.”
Mike McGuigan and Gettin Messi winning at Charlottetown
Though McGuigan will now have to cheer on his stable from the sidelines, he is beyond thankful to be alive and be able to watch his horses at all. His barn sends out a single starter on the Saturday afternoon card and five more on Monday & Tuesday.
“Stake races are pretty hot and heavy right now so this didn’t exactly happen at a great time. I have 13 horses at the moment but I’m very fortunate to have come out of this with only the injuries that I suffered. This accident could have ended my life.”
McGuigan, who enjoyed a career year in 2019 thanks in large part to the exploits of trotting colt Gettin Messi, has turned over the hands-on management of his stable to some trustworthy family and friends.
“I have a couple guys that work for me at the barn, Glen Dunn, John MacKay as well as my father Barney -- they’re handling all the duties right now while I sit and watch. I’m kind of like a stick in the mud to them right now. I’m there and I’m trying to watch over everything and probably driving everyone crazy,” says McGuigan with a laugh. “I can’t stress how lucky I am to have them all helping me. I have two little boys Owen (5) and Isaac (3), my wife Erin is working from home thanks to COVID so she really has her hands full right now too, but we are managing the best we can and just thankful things didn’t turn out worse.
Mike McGuigan (R) with father Len (Barney) and sons Owen and Isaac with Gettin Messi in 2019
In McGuigan’s stable of 13 there are a handful of Atlantic Sires Stakes competitors for which the horseman has high hopes.
“I have five two-year-olds and three-year-olds. CL Gangsta Boy is one of the ones we really like, he’s a really nice colt. Woodmere Alvin is another that we have that we also really like. I’m very happy with how all of our young horses turned out, they certainly are holding their own. Obviously you want to see them as best as they possibly can for the owners, but I’m very fortunate to have really good owners that are understanding that Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
It's safe to assume that while McGuigan is sidelined he will be taking in as much of the harness racing action during what's typically Old Home Week, despite the difference in atmosphere leading up to and surrounding Red Shores' signature event, the Guardian Gold Cup & Saucer.
“It’s going to be different for sure. The marketing and management team at Red Shores are doing everything in their power to promote the event still as much as they can," said McGuigan. “The world is just such a crazy place right now and I don’t think anywhere is normal -- so we just have to make do with what we have.”
McGuigan also discussed the changes in the entries in this year's Gold Cup & Saucer trials with the 15 starters comprised of mostly local entries.
“It’s nice to see so many Maritime-owned horses entered in the race this year; we have really good horses here that sometimes don’t get their opportunity to shine. I know they are going to put on a good show.”
Though sidelined, McGuigan is eternally thankful not only for how lucky he is to be alive, but also for the outstanding outpouring of support he's received during this ordeal.
“I’ve had a lot of support from my family to owners to friends. I must have had 600 Facebook comments and probably 400 direct messages. I just want to thank everyone for their support. I’m very, very lucky.”