Dragged to almost death and back to the winner's circle - Dale Cole!

Obviously older age apprentice Dale Cole, he’s 25, has no hard feelings. (He’s lucky to have any at all.) 

There he was last Thursday - after the race meeting at Goulburn - where he remarkably rode his first two career winners on only his second day out, in a trial aboard a mare called Tjaka, the very mare who had almost taken not just his dreams, but his life.

“I’m very lucky to be alive, that’s what I do know,” said Cole.

That happened more than 18 months ago, Cole was dragged stuck with a leg in an iron like a rag doll for 300m at Goulburn with eager owners watching on, trainer and friend Danny Williams, basically alongside him, helpless to do anything helpful.

Dale Cole in hospital (supplied)

The outcome - life threatening - broken ribs, snapped leg also pulled out of a socket with a massive hole in the muscles torn near the groin, oh and a broken pelvis. 

So yes, in a very bad way.

Any ambulance was at least 90 minutes away, a Williams stable owner had a son in the local Fire Brigade, recommended a quick call, they were on the scene, stabilized the stricken apprentice, putting a hole in his chest to assist breathing, before the air ambulance got him airlifted to Canberra hospital.

“I only recall what I tell myself, “Cole says. “I don’t remember getting dragged, maybe I blocked that out of my mind. She’s a beautiful horse (Tjaka), she just wasn’t that day.”

Dale Cole at Goulburn (Supplied)

Williams, the respected Goulburn based horseman, mentor (think Kathy O’Hara, Shaun Guymer), and father figure to the former sparky Cole, recalls the disaster more vividly.

“It still haunts me today. I still have trouble talking about it.”

And then he did, and you could sense the ongoing trauma in sharing.

The memory of owners wanting to see some recently broken youngsters before their eyes in light exercise, so Cole is put on the "quiet"Tjaka and Williams on Winning Emotions for a supposed simple trot and canter.

“Tjaka was the quietest horse in the yard, Dale had done about 30 trials, and was almost ready for his licence,” Williams said.

“I remember we trotted off and she (Tjaka) dropped her head, and took fright, so I said I’ll wait for her to get in front and I was a couple of hundred metres behind but mine took off, she (Tjaka) threw him (Dale) over her head, I didn’t know he was hooked in the iron at the time.”

“But basically, she turned him around sideways, trod on him and then took off with his leg caught in the stirrup, the saddle flipped on the side, I took off to try and get around it but there was no way, it was horrible.

“The owners were watching, his foot eventually came out of the iron, I remember looking around and he sat up and tried to stand up not realizing his leg was broken, he collapsed, it was all hell after that, I’ll never forget it.”

“I just couldn't do anything about it. I’ve been dragged 15 or 16 times in my life, ended up in hospital too, but maybe only for about 100m at most but this was different.

“What made it worse was remembering other times I’d been involved, a mate was killed when he somersaulted on a rail when we were educating young horses, they thought it was a punctured lung and ribs, but by the time he was in hospital it was a spleen and he bred to death, I just couldn’t stop thinking of what happened to Dale.”

Williams admits he had taken this surprising apprentice Cole under his wing, insisting he finish an electrical apprenticeship, before trying to learn how to ride a horse, something he’d never done before.

Cole admits there is some loose family connection - he says maybe first or second cousin - to “Miracle” Mal Johnston, though he’s never met him. Maybe off this miracle, he should.

The sparky thing - yes, he reckons he’s got two months of practical work to complete the university course factor but the chances of that are about as much as changing a light globe.

"I'd loved a punt as a kid, and I was the right size. Someone brought that up, I found Danny’s number, gave him a call, and that’s where it started, there is nothing in the family. I can ride 49kg, 50kg, watching my diet, it’s what i want to do,” Cole says

Even when those dreams were challenged there were no thoughts of turning any other power on.

“Even in hospital, all I ever wanted to do was ride again, I thought it might be two months, I never thought it was as serious as what it was, sure there was pain, but I thought I’d get through it.”

He did, he has. A week before the tragedy, Williams had taken him to Fiji for a week’s holiday; they outlined plans for the future. 

Danny Williams

Delayed sure, but achieved eventually, but with more reality to come. There is no rush, says Williams, he (and Racing NSW) has held back Cole’s return until more natural confidence flows.

No winner's day one, but two out of three at Goulburn last Thursday.

Next stop may be Albury Friday, and a full circle win on Tjaka may not be far off either.

That would be a miracle. Oh, and there already is a social media label for Dale Cole meteoric start - “The Cole Train” - not renewable energy, as any sparky would know. 

---

Dale Cole was unplaced at his first two official race rides at Goulburn Aril 29, but then won on Let's Go Brandon for Wayne Hudd and Chemtrail for his boss Williams from his three rides last Thursday at Goulburn.