A horse shied at a parked car. Now the rider is suing two trainers and a prominent breeder

2 months ago 14

A track rider who claims he suffered a career-ending leg injury after his horse shied at a parked car has launched legal action against two prominent Victorian trainers and a well-known breeder.

Robert McKenna, 56, has filed a Supreme Court lawsuit for damages against Grahame Begg, Anthony Freedman and GSA Bloodstock, a breeding operation owned by billionaire Jonathan Munz.

Trainer Grahame Begg with his former stable star Written By.

In his civil suit, lodged on December 1, McKenna says he was riding a horse for Begg at a private training property at Mt Eliza, owned by GSA Bloodstock, when his horse took fright and threw him onto an unguarded steel post.

He broke the tibia and fibula in his left leg and needed extensive surgery. He claims the injury left him incapacitated, and he has not been able to work for almost six years.

Fifteen-time group 1 winner Begg and the 2023 Melbourne Cup-winner Freedman train horses for Munz, and were based at his private training property, Pinecliff, at the time of the incident on January 24, 2020.

McKenna’s writ claims he was working his horse on a sand track when it shied at a car that had been “wrongly parked” near starting stalls by a “servant or agent” connected to Freedman.

The writ alleges that Begg failed to ask for the car to be removed, failed to speak to Munz’s company about the steel post and did not carry out an adequate risk assessment.

The writ accuses Freedman of placing the track rider in a “position of peril” and creating a hazard in an area that McKenna was required to ride his horse.

It alleges Freedman failed to heed Begg’s requests to not park the car “in an inappropriate location” – an area that was “likely to cause the horse to take fright”.

The lawsuit also alleges that GSA Bloodstock failed to adequately guard the steel post, and did not display appropriate warning signs.

Anthony Freedman, right, and jockey Mark Zahra win the 2019 Caulfield Guineas with Super Seth.

All three defendants are accused of failing to comply with occupational health and safety regulations, as well as failing to take heed of WorkSafe Publication Horse Stables and Track Riding Safety.

McKenna, who is being represented by Ryan Carlisle Thoms Lawyers, is filing for damages, claiming his accident happened as a result of the negligence of all three defendants.

WorkSafe is acting as the insurer in the case, but declined to comment. The defendants are yet to file a defence to the allegations.

McKenna says the fall left him with a deformed left leg, scarring, chronic pain, the development of deep vein thrombosis, post-traumatic stress and depression.

Owner Jonathan Munz, right, speaks to jockey Mark Zahra after winning the 2025 Wakeful Stakes with Getta Good Feeling.

He says he was earning $1113 a week at the time and expected to work until he was 67. He says he is likely to be incapacitated indefinitely.

The lawsuit says McKenna has not been able to claim hospital and medical expenses according to conditions set out by the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act.

Begg and GSA Bloodstock declined to comment when contacted by this masthead. Freedman was contacted for comment.

Freedman, who now co-trains with his son Sam, won the 2019 group 1 Caulfield Guineas for Munz with Super Seth, a Dundeel colt that carried the owner’s red-and-white vertical-striped silks.

They also combined to win the 1200m group 2 Gilgai Stakes at Flemington in 2024 with the now-retired mare Right To Party.

Begg has also had group 2 successes for Munz, winning back-to-back Challenge Stakes (1000m) at Randwick with Passive Aggressive in 2023-24.