THERE was more than a touch of irony attached to Goornong trainer Nigel Milne's win with Our Doreen Days in the final race at Lord's Raceway on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Firstly, it was the black gelding's first win in five starts since returning from a near-fatal tendon injury sustained in early 2018.
And secondly, it came in a race sponsored by the Northern Rivers Equine Veterinary Clinic.
If not for the efforts of veterinarian Dr Kath McIntosh and her team at the Kyabram-based clinic back, Our Doreen Days might not only have not made it back to the racetrack, but survived his ordeal at all.
Milne certainly feared the worst on the January 15 morning he rushed the gelding, who was bred by Kevin and Colleen Bamford (part-owners of Melbourne Cup winner Americain), to the vets, only a month after he had won his first race at Kilmore.
"I had him out in a 10-acre paddock in front of our house just to keep an eye on him while he was spelling, and when I went to work one morning I thought he's not standing in his normal spot," he recalled.
"They are a creature of habit, so I thought to myself something doesn't look right. I noticed there was a wire down in the front fence and low and behold I walked over to him and he had completely degloved his hind off-side leg, from the hock all the way down.
"It was like peeling a sock off your foot. Full skin, sinew, everything was showing ... ligaments, tendons.
"I thought the worst. We got him on to the float, which we managed with the horse basically on three legs and we took him over to the vet.
"It was touch and go, let alone whether the leg would make it, but whether he would live. I honestly thought I had no chance of bringing him home.
"He spent a full week at the vets and he managed to pull through."
It was an absolute fairytale ... and how fitting he won the race named after his vets. Maybe it was just meant to be."
- Nigel Milne
Severely restricted in mobility, Our Doreen Days spent the first 15 weeks back at Goornong in a horse box, before his eventual return to the paddock.
"He's a funny sort of a horse, said Milne of the much-loved gelding he considers as 'part of the family'.
"He likes the routine of being worked and doesn't like being in the paddock, so eventually we decided to give him a bit of a jog and see what he does.
"It wasn't good ... his fetlock didn't have any strength in it all because the tendons and everything had been cut.
"But the action of pacing dictates that the faster he gets, the more it's able to swing the leg into spot. So, after a long rehabilitation period, to the credit of the horse, he started to strengthen and train himself.
"From there we just kept pushing on and he made it to the trials, which he passed with flying colours."
"From the time he injured it to the time he came back into work, it was a full year exactly."
Satisfied sufficiently with the gelding's recuperation, Milne returned to Lord's Raceway with Our Doreen Days on July 4 this year, for the gelding's first start in 19 months.
It's fair to say he was stunned by the result, and not by anything you would normally associate with a modest ninth placing in a 10-horse field.
"Over the short distance (1650m) he went close to a personal best. I thought this shouldn't really be happening," said Milne, a former professional trainer, who these days classes himself as a 'hobbyist', with just four horses in the stable.
"We gave him a further four starts and his driver Josh Duggan was convinced he was getting better and better with every run.
"So, we pressed on and Saturday night came up and he duly saluted. It was an absolute fairytale.
"Credit to the horse, he has this absolute willingness to be out there and doing it - he doesn't like being in the paddock.
"It's been a natural progression and how fitting he won the race named after his vets. Maybe it was just meant to be."
Emotions ran high on the terraces at Lord's Raceway after the win, led by Milne's wife Danielle, a part-owner along with the couple's four-year-old daughter Ngaire.
The third-generation trainer was quick to thank his father-in-law Jim Morrissey - a trainer in his own right - for shoeing the horse, and was naturally lavish in his praise for Dr McIntosh and her staff.
Dr McIntosh, herself a former licenced reinswoman, was quick to return her compliments to the Milnes for their quick action and continued care of the Our Doreen Days.
His win was the talk of the office at Kyabram on Monday.
"We were fortunate that the clients were prepared to put a lot of hard work in themselves and to give the horse time," Dr McIntosh said.
"He was boxed for months and I know the horse didn't think much of that at the time, but they have done a great job to provide all the nursing care he needed during the time.
"We provide veterinary services to the Bendigo harness club, so I'd seen he was back about six weeks ago and had his first start, so that was a pretty major milestone in itself.
"Things could not have worked out better for his first win back, being the race we sponsored. It was meant to be."
With win number two safe in the bank after 19 starts, Our Doreen Days will be back in action either this Sunday at Cranbourne, or the following Friday at Bendigo.
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.