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Vallandingham on the road to recovery

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March 12, 2009

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Gene Vallandingham can laugh about it now, but the 68-year-old driver and trainer escaped a scary accident at Cal Expo.

"I must have been in 300-plus wrecks," said the veteran. "Pylons are the best thing that ever happened to racetracks. People have a chance to escape now. I was lucky -- again."

Cleared by doctors to return to the sulky, Vallandingham expected to be back on track March 12 and had drives scheduled through the weekend. But he remembers nothing of the incident, which occurred in Cal Expo's eighth race Feb. 26.

"I was knocked out cold," he said. "The last thing I remember I was adjusting the horse's equipment in the paddock. Next thing I know, I'm in the hospital. They tell me I woke up briefly in the ambulance and said, 'I sure hope this is a bad dream.' I apparently was out for more than 30 minutes.

"I've had lots of concussions, but never one like this one," he added. "it makes you think of all those football players and boxers and their head injuries."

Vallandingham was driving the filly Pedal on the Right in a $3,000 claiming pace, when his horse hooked another at the back of the nine-horse field. "We got pulled sideways and my horse reared straight up," he said. "I tumbled out and hit my head and shoulder. I was out on the track like a rag doll."

Taken to a nearby hospital, Vallandingham regained consciousness with only a concussion and a headache. "I'm OK now," he said. "They tell me it sure looked scary, but I don't remember a thing."

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