Brennan says his injuries could have been worse

George Brennan told harnessracing.com Wednesday morning that he feels lucky his injuries weren’t a lot worse than the broken right wrist he suffered in a race accident at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs last Saturday, May 31, but that he still expects to be sidelined an indefinite period of time.

“I broke a collarbone before, I hurt a rotator cuff, and a couple bones in my back, and the most I was ever out was with the collarbone when it was about six weeks,” said Brennan by cell phone from his New Jersey home. “This will be longer than that since I’m certainly not going to rush it. I’m going to make sure I have full strength in my arm before I come back.”

Brennan was driving Dontloseyourday Job—his only mount of the afternoon—when he collided with another horse that had fallen down after catching a shoe. The other drivers and all the horses involved only suffered minor injuries. Brennan was forced to miss his Meadowlands drives that evening, including behind Daley Deposit Only in the $500,000 New Jersey Classic.

Surgery was performed on Brennan’s wrist Saturday night at a nearby hospital. Now back home, the 41-year-old Brennan said he has a follow-up doctor’s appointment on Friday.

“It’s definitely an inconvenience for me but I consider myself really lucky also. The wrist is shattered but it could have been a whole lot worse.”

Brennan says his time will now be spent with his family and seeing other relatives and friends that he has been limited seeing in the past due to his racing schedule. Brennan added he has kept everything in perspective, despite knowing that he will be missing the major stakes season as well as having to keep his golf clubs in the bag.

“In any sport, injuries do happen, and there’s never a good time,” he said. “Some of the guys I drive with, when they say they had a bad night I’ll tell them that they didn’t have a bad night, because if you walk out of this racetrack you are never having a bad night. On Saturday, May 31, I had a bad day. I wasn’t able to walk out of the track. Every day I race and I walk out of the racetrack, whether I win no races, five races or three races, I have a good day if I walk out.”

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