The impact dislodged Sea King's rider Steven Pateman and resulted in the horse suffering a nasty gash, about the size of an average human fist.
Despite the serious wound, the tough competitor carried on riderless and nearly completed the 3900m journey before being caught.
Fortunately Sea King's injury missed any vital organs but required several stitches and necessitated him being sidelined for the rest of the year.
It was touch and go whether Sea King would race again but, after spending six weeks of pre-training in the care of his Otaki part-owner Rachael Frost earlier this year, the horse was given a steady build-up by Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers that saw him peak at exactly the right time last Saturday.
Myers gave the 10-year-old Shinko King gelding three races on the flat before he resumed racing over hurdles at Hastings on May 11. He beat only one home that day and was pulled up during the running of the Waikato Hurdles at his next appearance. However he showed a marked improvement when third over hurdles at Trentham two weeks ago which set him up for a return to his best last Saturday.
Jockey Shaun Fannin had Sea King trailing the pacemaker Shamal from the outset of the 3000m event and they were left in front when that horse clipped the top of the fourth last fence and dislodged rider Charlie Price.
Fannin then only had to make sure Sea King negotiated the last three fences safely before kicking him clear in the run to the line to score by three lengths.
Fannin heaped praise on Myers after the victory, saying the master jumps trainer and his staff had spent tireless hours getting the horse back to full fitness.
Sea King started his career from Frost's Otaki stable but she says he proved almost unmanageable in her care which is why he was transferred to Myers. Frost still shares in the ownership of the Shinko King 10-year-old, along with the horse's Central Hawke's Bay's breeder Sue Harty and Auckland's Chris O'Reilly. He now has a record of 18 wins, nine seconds and nine thirds from 64 starts.
Ocean Princess, the dam of Sea King, is now deceased but she left two other winners after Sea King in King Tap and Pacific Tap.
Hawke's Bay-owned horses took out the quinella in last Saturday's Awapuni Hurdles with Upper Cut, part-owned by Waipukurau's Michael Ormsby and trained at Awapuni by Mark Oulaghan, finished a clear second.
Kings Deep back on top
Down one week but up the next. That was how the connections of Hawke's Bay-trained Kings Deep felt after the horse scored a popular win in the maiden steeplechase at Trentham last Saturday.
The 10-year-old gelding gave an almost faultless display of jumping in the 4000m event, getting in a bit too close to one fence, but recovering quickly before going on to win by 5-1/2 lengths.
For his connections it was in stark contrast to a week before at Trentham when the horse was taken out of contention during the running of the $20,000 Restricted Open steeplechase.
The big Viking Ruler gelding was leading in that race when a riderless horse tried to run him off at one of the fences on the figure eight course and then side-swiped him as he approached the next obstacle, punching his rider Shaun Phelan out of the saddle.
Kings Deep is trained at Hastings by Paul Nelson who races the horse in partnership with his wife Carol and Christchurch-based Tom Behrns, a former trotting trainer-driver.
Last Saturday's win was Kings Deep's fifth and his first since he took out a 3350m hurdle race at Ellerslie in August, 2013. The horse has been plagued by soundness issues throughout his career and spent almost two years on the sideline after suffering a severe tendon injury.
Nelson has done a marvellous job getting the horse back to race fitness, with last Saturday's race being only his third start back after that long break.
Jockey Aaron Kuru let Kings Deep bowl along in front last Saturday and the horse produced spectacular leaps at most of the fences.
"He was a bit keen because he'd missed that race last week and he was jumping through my hands but he was still too good," Kuru said.
Nelson has no firm plans for Kings Deep, saying the horse is very much a day by day proposition given the horse's past problems.
First jumping win
Zentangle, part-owned by Hawke's Bay's Jason Donnelly, broke through for his first jumping win when taking out the $20,000 Restricted Open Hurdle race at last Friday's Timaru meeting.
The Chinese Dragon 5-year-old was backing up from a victory in an open 2200m flat race and Oamaru five days before and has now won eight races from only 30 starts for his Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers.
Myers races the gelding in partnership with Jason Donnelly, close friend Charlie Gestro and the estate of Jim Donnelly, Jason's late father.
Sunday's win capped a great weekend for Hastings-born jockey Shaun Fannin, who is number one stable rider for the Myers jumpers. The 21-year-old also combined with the astute trainer to take out last Saturday's Awapuni Hurdles with Sea King.
Fannin had to call on all his skills to get Zentangle across the line for a nose decision over The Energizer after the two horses fought a great tussle in the final stages of the 3000m event.
New trophy for Hastings amateur riders' race
A special new trophy will be presented to the winner of the amateur riders' race at the Hawke's Bay winter race meeting at Hastings tomorrow week.
The 2100m event is being sponsored for the third year in a row by the Birchleigh Polo Club and they have had a mounted silver cup made which will add to their continuing association with Hawke's Bay Racing.
The winning rider in the amateur race will have his or her name engraved on the trophy base and it will remain in Hastings to be contested for on an annual basis.
The Birchleigh Polo Club is based at Paki Paki, just south of Hastings, and has been in operation for eight years. It presently has about 32 members.
The club first became associated with Hawke's Bay Racing three years ago when they sponsored the time honoured Duke Of Gloucester Cup, the prestige event for amateur riders in New Zealand and a race that is run at a different venue each year.
Birchleigh Polo Club spokesman Richard Kettle said this week that he and his members see it as "a good fit" for their club to be involved in a race like this.
"Our aim is to get new people into the game of polo and we see amateur riders as some who could easily get involved.
"We also wanted to cement our sponsorship with Hawke's Bay Racing by way of a trophy."
The Birchleigh Polo Club is a standalone body and separate from the Hawke's Bay Polo Club. It runs programmes in conjunction with schools such as Flaxmere College, Iona College and Woodford House to teach young people the art of polo playing.
"We go away to tournaments and compete as our own club and we will have a number of our people on course at Hastings for next week's race day," Kettle said.
Richard Kettle's company, Animal Health Direct, has also been a great supporter of Hawke's Bay Racing and will be sponsoring the feature race at next week's race meeting, the $50,000 Hawke's Bay Steeplechase, for the eighth year in a row.