Damien Burns has escaped a serious accident with only minor injuries to himself and two of his stable stars after a frightening incident on the way to Monday’s Maryborough trials.
The Ballarat trainer-driver was travelling to the track with two-year-old pair Maxo Mighty and Elle Perfecto when a car veered onto his side of the road while travelling through Miners Rest. While Burns’ quick-thinking actions helped avoid a head-on collision, his float was tipped on its side due to the significant impact of the two vehicles.
“I was in a little bit of shock, but I had to switch on pretty quickly into a different mode knowing I had to get the horses out,” Burns recalled.
“As you can imagine, it was a shocking sight. But to the horses’ credit, they seemed to be quite relaxed considering and trusted what I was trying to do.
“They were shipped off to the vets and stayed overnight. Other than a few grazes and a little bit of infection that’s going to come, I think they’re going to be okay.
“They were very trusting and calm with what I was trying to do with them. It’s like they knew they were in awful trouble and knew I was trying to help.
“It could have been a lot worse. I managed to miss him with the car, but unfortunately not with the float.”
While happy to be relatively unscathed and with his horses expected to make a full recovery, Burns is dreading the significant financial impact the accident will have on his family.
The Tuza float was uninsured and appears unable to be repaired, meaning transport to and from race meetings will be a challenge.
“Unfortunately for me, he’s got no insurance. My car is insured, but the float is not,” Burns said.
“We are very thankful that we got out of it okay, but now I’m scratching my head because I haven’t got a float. It’s a long way to walk to the races.
“We were unlucky, but we were very lucky at the same time.”
Burns has been training since the 2005-06 season and is widely regarded in harness racing circles for his ability to prepare young horses.
His efforts with the two juveniles involved in the accident is evidence of that, with Maxo Mighty a winner of two of his four starts this year and Elle Perfecto victorious in three of her eight.
