Harness racing: Relief as driver Nathan Williamson’s condition improves after shocking race fall
Deep concern has been replaced by relief for the family of injured harness racing driver Nathan Williamson, who has uttered his first words since breaking his skull in a horror spill.
The 36-year-old has been brought out of his induced coma and spoke to his family this morning after a shocking race fall at Alexandra Park on Friday night.
Williamson was driving Captain’s Mistress, a filly he trains, and was about to win the $100,000 Queen Of Hearts when the sulky he was sitting in malfunctioned and he was thrown to the track.
That left him with a fractured skull and he was rushed to Auckland City Hospital where he was placed in an induced coma in case of brain swelling.
Doctors have been able to confirm to Williamson’s parents Phil and Bev Williamson and his wife Katie Williamson that the Southland horseman had not suffered a brain bleed and he was not only brought out of the coma but no longer needs breathing assistance.
“We were able to have a brief conversation with him this morning and that was such a relief,” Phil Williamson, himself a trainer and driver of horses, said.
“He is still in the Intensive Care Unit [ICU] so we are not out of the woods yet but the doctors are saying all the crucial signs are good.
“So they are hoping he can move out of the ICU and on to a head trauma ward in the next two days.
“But to have him awake and breathing on his own is so comforting. We are very thankful.”
“We will feel even better when he is out of the ICU but we are also so lucky he has had the level of care he is getting in there, it is a remarkable place.
“Considering how the accident looked and how fast they were going, we all realise things could have been a lot, lot worse.”
Williamson says his understanding of the cause of the accident is the bracket which connects the seat on to the sulky came away, leaving Williamson with no support as he crashed out of sulky on to the ground about 50m from the winning post.
The sulky was not Williamson’s but borrowed from another trainer, a relatively common practice, especially when trainers travel a long way with horses or have two starters in a race.
The horse, Captains Mistress, a 3-year-old pacing filly, was not injured in the incident.
Phil Williamson says his son, who has three children, was expected to have more X-rays on Sunday afternoon to determine whether he had any other broken bones.
Williamson sits 10th in the national harness racing trainer’s premiership for this season and ninth on the driver’s premiership and is seen as one of the leading lights in the younger generation of trainers coming through in the industry.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.