Line snaps on Campbell

John Campbell has driven 226 times since returning in early April after severely breaking a leg in a race accident last October, but it was race number 220 Thursday night at the Meadowlands that threw a scare into the Hall of Famer as a line came undone in the first race and sent his horse into a runaway gallop.

The incident occurred shortly before the half as Campbell and Yourtheluckyone ranged up first-over against the Yannick Gingras-driven Monte Carlo. When the line snapped Campbell yelled over to Gingras, who in turn made sure he yelled back at the trailing drivers. Campbell’s horse then veered to the inside and in the stretch outrider Christine Melhorne was able to grab hold without any further incident.

“I tried to keep John next to me as I figured if we were wheel on wheel the horse wouldn’t duck to the inside like that, but his horse ducked anyway going into the turn. We all got lucky,” Gingras told harnessracing.com Friday morning. “It was early in the race and we were up toward the front, but if I was way in the back I might have (tried to grab Campbell’s horse) but there were too many horses around. I looked over and John was half off and getting ready to jump off. It was not real fun.”

Emerging unscathed, Campbell was able to keep his commitment Friday morning at a Career Day program at a middle-grade school in New Jersey where he told harnessracing.com he talked about his driving resume and showed tapes of some of his winning drives in the Hambletonian and Little Brown Jug. Campbell confirmed he thought about bailing from Youretheluckyone’s sulky when the line came undone Thursday night.

“I was thinking about it but we were going too damn fast to get out,” he said. “Your first thought is always ‘oh no’ when it does happen, that’s the first thing that comes to mind. It’s not a good feeling when it happens, but it certainly worked out as good as it could. My horse came back out in the homestretch and the outrider was able to get him; we were all right then.”

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