‘Is everyone else in the race OK?’: Laura Lafferty’s stunning first words after jockey’s near-death experience in horror fall at Ballarat
Less than 48 hours earlier after she thought she would die on the track after a horror race fall at Ballarat, jockey Laura Lafferty’s first words were for her fellow riders.
Horse Racing
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News.
“Is everyone else in the race OK?”
They were the first words jockey Laura Lafferty wrote, on a laminated board in intensive care at The Alfred, shortly after being woken from an induced coma.
Less than 48 hours earlier, Lafferty thought she would die on the track at Ballarat.
She could not breathe.
Bloodied, conscious, then not.
Lafferty was dislodged in a 1400m maiden on October 3 when her horse, leading at the time, shied and shifted in abruptly.
No one else was injured, thankfully, as riders in a reflex tried their best to avoid the stricken and vulnerable jockey on the ground.
The extent of her injuries suggest one or more horses clipped or trod on Lafferty, set to make a full recovery in time but faced with six to 12 month rehabilitation.
• ‘Grew up with nothing’: Teetan’s remarkable ride to Caulfield Cup
Lafferty has not watched a replay of the race, nor does she want to.
She sustained a concussion, collapsed lung, lacerations to the liver and spleen, severe body bruising and a broken foot, discovered later, in the incident.
She has no memory of the incident, only a flashback of being laid out on the grass.
“I do remember waking up on the track and I just couldn’t breathe,” Lafferty said.
“There was blood coming out of my mouth, everywhere, and I was out of consciousness.
“I was awake for what felt like one or two minutes … and then must’ve lost consciousness again, I don’t remember after that.”
Lafferty is lucky to be alive.
If not for rapid intervention, first by race day paramedic ‘Mick’, then doctors and nurses at Ballarat Base Hospital, where she was placed in a coma for the air ambulance to Melbourne, Lafferty could be a statistic.
• Glen Boss: What J-Mac must do to beat Pride Of Jenni in King Charles III Stakes
More than 900 jockeys have died tragically in the line of work in Australian racing history, including the late Dean Holland (2023) and Stephano Cherchi (2024) most recently.
“If I was any further away from a hospital, or didn’t have those particular medics there, I don’t know if I would’ve made it to the hospital,” Lafferty said.
“Mick was amazing, I wouldn’t be in the spot I am if it wasn’t for him getting to me so quickly and doing what he did on course straight away.
“The ICU nurses, in particular at The Alfred, were unbelievable.”
Lafferty spent the first 36-48 hours under heavy sedation.
Three “really rough” nights in ICU, “I thought I was going to die again”, and a difficult week in the trauma ward, before being discharged last Monday.
The first 24-48 hours after the induced coma remain a blur.
• Caulfield Cup day fields revealed
“I do remember waking up, Mum and Dad (Sharon and horse trainer Peter) were there but I couldn’t speak,” Lafferty said.
“I still had tubes in my mouth, even when I was conscious, and then I just fell back asleep for a bit and woke up and the tubes were out.“
Patients experience difficulty talking after intubation and rely on the written word to communicate with doctors, nurses and visitors.
“I had a rough 48 hours, probably three days when I woke up, it was really, really bad,“ Lafferty said.
“Really rough, I thought I was going to die again.
“It was horrible, just vomiting, blood everywhere, really not nice, really uncomfortable.
“I was getting rid of the blood build up in my lungs, to get rid of all of that, wasn’t pleasant, that was really, really, hard.”
The effects of severe full body bruising and a broken foot were secondary.
“I didn’t really feel it at first, I’d broken my foot and I didn’t even know the first couple of days, obviously because there was other stuff going on,” Lafferty said.
“That stuff wasn’t, to be honest, that painful, my lungs and my rib, and my chest, I couldn’t breathe properly, that was more concerning and obviously problematic.
“Now I’m very, very sore because I’m up and moving, not much at all, but even just lifting myself up, the bruising is tough.
“The first five days I didn’t really notice the bruising because I was laying flat and I was just trying to breathe for the first couple of days.”
• ‘If only I was a Wiggle’: Dolan chasing another Caulfield Cup miracle
Lafferty improved “out of sight” going from critical to stable condition, “days were good and the nights were really bad”.
“I was able to build up some strength for the night and then it all seamlessly got better and better, now I’m sleeping, days are good, nights are bearable … it’s got a lot better.”
Lafferty, an accomplished junior athlete before embarking on a career as a jockey, one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, has credited her fitness for such a rapid recovery.
“It’s so important to be healthy because the rate I’m improving has been really, really helpful, just being a healthy person I’ve been improving a lot, which is amazing,” Lafferty said.
“I just cannot imagine I would’ve survived if I wasn’t that fit, I couldn’t breathe, I just thought I was dying on the track.
“I couldn’t breathe on the track … even the days post and waking up again, my lung capacity and the rate of my recovery, I would not, I cannot imagine where I would be if I hadn’t been that fit and physically active, it’s honestly amazing.”
• Why the Buck stops with Waller in 2024 Caulfield Cup
Lafferty has prioritised health and fitness, mental and physical, since a nasty fall in 2021 at Swan Hill where a mount smashed through the inside rail and crashed into a ditch.
She sustained a concussion, suspected hip and shoulder injuries in that incident.
Lafferty relied on exercise, boxing, running and triathlons, along with a life coach and mentor to combat the loneliness of that rehabilitation and steel physical and mental health.
The theory, “power of positive thinking”, will be tested now in real time.
“The next six months I think I will be the hardest,” Lafferty said.
“Just being alone, really, the support will drop off a little bit, I’ve had an overwhelming amount of support.
“I’m pre-empting the future, worried about the next couple of months and what that is going to look like, but I’ll just have to deal with it when it comes to that point.”
Being at home the past three days, with six seasons of Schitt’s Creek to binge, a lot of books to read and mum’s cooking to enjoy, has helped Lafferty no end, to a point.
• ‘He’ll bounce back’: Write off Warmonger at your peril in Caulfield Cup
“I have my days, hospital is good in the fact you have doctors, nurses, family, other patients, you feel like you’re in the right place, we all had something in common really,” Lafferty said.
“Being in hospital with a group of people all suffering, to some degree, you don’t feel alone in that environment, as well it was pretty soon after the fall.
“You don’t have too much time to think, you’re in survival mode, what’s going to get you by the next hour after hour.
“Taking it day by day at the moment, get through the next couple of months, rest and recover and I guess in four or five months reassess.
“I’m just staying positive … maybe this is happening for me, not to me. I’m sure in hindsight it might be a blessing, that this has happened, which is hard to see at the time.
“I’m sure in hindsight there will be a silver lining to it in some way.”
Originally published as ‘Is everyone else in the race OK?’: Laura Lafferty’s stunning first words after jockey’s near-death experience in horror fall at Ballarat
‘Excessive, out of proportion’: Weir appeals ban
Disgraced trainer Darren Weir has claimed a two-year ban for the use of a jigger on three racehorses was ‘unreasonable and contrary to the interests of justice’ in a Supreme Court appeal against the penalty.
Caulfield Cup barrier curveball for Coco Sun
Trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy have done all they can to have Coco Sun in top condition but the barrier draw and Mother Nature will have the final say on her Caulfield Cup chances.