KEY POINTS:
Harness driver Fraser Kirk escaped without serious injury after a spectacular race crash at Alexandra Park last night.
Kirk was thrown 4m in the air and at least 10m sideways when his drive Turismo collided with a horse already crashed on the track in the second race.
He was taken to hospital with a suspected concussion but suffered no broken bones or serious abrasions in the accident.
The crash was one of the most graphic seen at Alexandra Park in a decade and was the end result of events which started a lap before Kirk hit the track.
Wholeftthegateopen galloped and dumped driver Brent Mangos as the maiden field approached the 1300m mark of the 2200m event.
Cullens Blue Jean, who was further back in the field, made slight contact with Wholeftthegateopen and then choked down, sliding to the track.
That checked two other runners but the real danger came when Cullens Blue Jean could not be coaxed off the track.
He was still lying in the middle on the track at the top of the straight with the field charging towards him at full speed a lap later.
"It was pretty scary," said his driver, Scott Phelan, who was attempting to get Cullens Blue Jean off the track.
The majority of the field managed to squeeze down to the inside half of the track but Turismo, who was last of the bunch, with Kirk's view obstructed, hit Cullens Blue Jeans' sulky at near full speed, with his sulky wheel running up over the fallen horse's hindquarters.
That caused Kirk to be catapulted into the air, after which he was carried to an ambulance and taken to Auckland Hospital.
Stipendiary steward Tom Taumanu described the incident as one of the worst of its kind he had seen on a racetrack in many years.
"It was just unfortunate the horse fell right in the middle of the track and couldn't get out of the way in time."
Neither horse suffered any significant injury.
Taumanu said New Zealand harness racing had no rule allowing for the race to be called off and all bets refunded when a race was obstructed by a fallen runner, unlike in Australian racing.
