At about 11:30 last night MySweetHeartTheFlirt suggested we spend today at the Randwick races.

I looked at my 400 unread RSS articles, the growing pile of unanswered emails that required attention, an alarmingly long task list, and shook my head.

“But there’ll be a hot-spot you can connect to,” she countered.

I was therefore almost resigned to a day of trying to balance a laptop on my knees, while trying not to take too much notice of the on-course action.

Thankfully Sydney’s weather paid out in my favour, and after seeing the gray clouds and looming rain, MySweetHeartTheFlirt decided it would be better to stay home after all.

I nevertheless kept an eye on proceedings over at the racetrack. A short while ago I was a little surprised to see a riderless horse heading back to the finishing line. A quick online look up told me the T L Baillieu Handicap had just finished.

I found some binoculars and went out onto the balcony, and almost immediately spotted a displaced jockey, hunched up, almost foetal like, on the racetrack grass.

Jockeys must make fine work mates, because not one dismounted, or even stopped, as they were returning to the winning post. Maybe they can’t or something. Eventually a track official, on horseback, appeared and signalled for an ambulance.

The fallen jockey was helped to his feet, and with help from the sole medical officer, limped into a nearby ambulance. He was walking, so he mustn’t have been too badly injured…

That’s my bit of citizen journalism for the day, now back to those unread articles and emails.

Update: coverage of the fall in today’s paper (at the foot of the article). The jockey involved, Jim Cassidy, has suffered a number of falls before this incident… horse racing sure ain’t always beer and skittles.