4 May 2018
HARNESS MEDIA CENTRE UPDATE | AMANDA RANDO
DRIVER Chris Geary is on the road to recovery after injuring his shoulder during the preliminary of a race at Penrith last Thursday night.
It was believed to be that the top junior reinsman dislocated his shoulder when driving Major Flare.
“I’m a bit sore and it’s still a bit unclear of the extent of it,” Geary said on Friday.
“I’ll have more scans and should know more of what is going on.”
The 20-year-old felt his “shoulder give way” while warming up the Darren McCall-trained Major Flare prior to race four.
“I drove a horse (Foo Fighter) for Shane and Lauren Tritton the race before and the horse pulled quite a bit,” Geary said.
“He ran a 55 (seconds) first half which is almost unheard of at Penrith.
“Then I jumped on Major Flare and he pulled like a train in the warm up and I couldn’t hold him and that’s when I felt my shoulder give way.
“I had it x-rayed as soon as I arrived at hospital and still didn’t have any results by midnight.”
As a result, Geary did not drive at Bankstown last night and at the time of writing was still listed to drive at Menangle on Saturday night.
He is scheduled to drive in six of the nine races including in the Group 3 La Coocaracha on Beta Hanoverdakash which he drove to victory on Tuesday at Menangle.
Geary started the week on a strong note landing six winners in two days which put him amongst the top five drivers in New South Wales for the season.
With more than 3300 drives under his belt in his five seasons of driving, Geary has steered 443 winners thanks to his recent success.
He is also currently the youngest driver in the NSW Metropolitan Drivers’ Premiership.
The top driver in this premiership is Luke McCarthy, who has a drive in each of the feature races at Menangle this Saturday night.
McCarthy will drive Moonshine Linda in the Group 1 NSW Trotters Oaks.
The trotting filly is currently ranked as the $4.60 third favourite with TAB Fixed Odds.
Meanwhile, McCarthy will also partner the Shane and Lauren Tritton-trained Hard Done By in the Group 3 La Coocaracha.
Hard Done By is ranked as a $10 chance with the favourite being Victorian mare Glenferrie Burn at $2.50.
‘Team Tritton’ have six horses nominated to race at Menangle tomorrow night but at some point will turn their focus to Melton, Victoria, where new stable acquisition Muscle Factory will race in the Group 1 Australian Pacing Gold Final.
The recent six-figure sum purchase is having his first start for the stable, however, former trainer Rickie Alchin has retained the drive on the colt.
Harness Racing NSW (HRNSW) is the controlling body for harness racing in New South Wales with responsibility for commercial and regulatory management of the industry including 33 racing clubs across the State. HRNSW is headed by a Board of Directors and is independent of Government.
To arrange an interview or for further information please contact:
AMANDA RANDO | MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER
(02) 9722 6600 • arando@hrnsw.com.au • @Amanda_Rando