From death's door to jumps triumph

In mid-March, the Patrick and Michelle Payne-trained Split (NZ) (Turn Me Loose) almost lost his life.

The gelding was on the South West Horse Transport truck that was en route to the Camperdown jumpouts, before it rolled off a bend in Bamganie, near Meredith, approximately 100 kilometres west of Melbourne.

Tragically, the truck’s driver, Peter Butler, was killed, as were three unraced horses from the Payne stable.

Miraculously, Split which began his career with trainer Peter Didham in New Zealand, survived the accident, and on Sunday at Coleraine, the six-year-old won a 3300-metre BM115 Hurdle, much to the delight of his owners Jo Rathbone and Simon Harrison, who watched on proudly from New Zealand.

“It was great to see him come back like that. For him to come back like that is pretty amazing,” Rathbone told Racing.com.

“He did have a few cuts, he had a decent one across his wither and on one of his front legs, as well.

“To be honest, I didn’t even know he would make this jumps season; that’s a bonus in itself. You never know how greatly something like that impacts a horse; it might appear to be all good, but there might be something else that you can’t quite see, internal stuff.

“It’s incredible that he's back and racing so soon; it’s a credit to Patrick and his team and the vets and everyone who’s played a part.”

Rathbone recounted the moment the news of the terrible incident in March broke.

“We were very lucky, as we still had a horse, whereas others weren’t so lucky, and the driver tragically passed away,” Rathbone said.

“There was nothing I could do, but I knew he was in good hands and they were doing everything they could for him. They were great, they sent through updates when they could.”

Rathbone also shared a lovely story involving one of the accident’s first responders.

“I got forwarded a message that Patrick and his team had been sent by one of the first responders who had actually gotten Split and led him down to one of the neighbours. He saw him have that first run on the flat at Casterton (on July 5) when he ran third and he was thrilled. You’ve got to take your hat off to people like that, it’s amazing what they do,” Rathbone said.

“It’s nice that someone like that remembered the horse and has been following him.”