Racing: Sweeney experiences highs and lows of racing

Jockey Mark Sweeney didn't have long to celebrate giving a handful of punters huge thrills in Saturday's $600,000 Pick6 at Te Rapa.

Sweeney solicited those thrills when he landed outsider Hot In Black home in the final leg of the Pick6 for a $100,592 payout, but was last night in Waikato Hospital.

The Te Awamutu horseman was thrown from a young horse in training yesterday morning.

"Mark's apparently got vertebrae damage in his lower back," said his father-in-law, Te Awamutu trainer Graeme Sanders.

It was the worst possible news for a jockey who suffered horrific injuries several years ago when he was smashed into a fence by a wayward horse at a Cambridge barrier trial meeting.

Only two weeks ago, Mark Sweeney scored his biggest win since the accident when he guided Time Keeper to win the $200,000 Easter Handicap at Ellerslie. He rode Time Keeper to win the third leg of Pick6 at Te Rapa on Saturday.

Ardmore trainer Stephen McKee is still in Waikato Hospital after collapsing at Te Rapa on Saturday.

He is having tests in the hospital's coronary care unit.