Ballantyne undergoes surgery

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 27

Ballantyne undergoes surgery

PA Auckland Surgeons at Auckland’s Green Lane Hospital on Wednesday night removed the spleen of the Cambridge jockey, Linda Ballantyne, whose horse crashed during the first race of the Auckland Racing Club’s summer meeting at Ellerslie earlier in the day. The meeting was cancelled after Ballantyne’s fall. The outside course was closed after the crash and the race was called off after an inspection of the inside course revealed that it too was unsafe. Ballantyne also has three broken ribs and her injuries are more serious than first thought. After the crash, course doctors were optimistic she had escaped with concussion, bad bruising and cuts and had no broken bones. But by early evening Green Lane doctors had diagnosed three broken ribs and suspected a ruptured spleen. Exploratory surgery revealed the spleen was damaged and it was removed. Karen Priscott, wife of Ballantyne’s employer Robert Priscott, said Ballantyne was comfortable yesterday, but very disappointed at missing her ride on Plume d’Or Veille in Monday’s $500,000 D.B. Auckland Cup. "It is her favourite horse and she was really looking forward to it. Even straight after the crash she was hopeful she’d recover in time to ride him,” Mrs Priscott said. Ballantyne expected big improvement from the horse’s ninth last Monday in the Jaguar Cup as Plume d’Or Veille had missed a lot of work through a reaction to an injection. Despite her heavy fall when Forlorn Abbey’s legs slipped out from under in the first Akarana Maiden on Wednesday, Ballantyne could have escaped but for being stomped on the chest by Aree Lass, which was unable to avoid her.