4 hours ago
1
Ray Hickson
March 21, 2026 — 5:00pm
For a few days Kym Davison thought it was all over.
The Albury trainer has been excited all year about Autumn Break’s prospects in the Evergreen Turf Country Championships series but a freak eye injury sustained at the start of the Wagga qualifying race almost ended his bid.
It went as far as Davison sending the three-year-old to the paddock and thinking he’d not be coming out for a month.
Despite his head knock, Autumn Break still ran third at Wagga and that made him the Southern Districts Racing Association’s emergency for the final but Davison is angling for a place in his own right by winning the $150,000 Country Championships Southern Wild Card (1400m) at Goulburn on Sunday.
“He was a bit sick and sorry for himself for three or four days,” Davison said.
“I reckon he most likely had a hairline fracture of the eye socket, he wouldn’t let you get near his head on the near side for three or four days.
“He gave his head a severe knock and had discharge coming out of a nostril for about four days. We put him out in the paddock and he started charging around and everything was good so we got him back in. Everything is good as gold with him now.”
Under the circumstances, after that incident and racing wide throughout, Davidson was immensely proud of Autumn Break’s performance at Wagga.
It came on the back of an unlucky third behind subsequent Hunter & North West runner-up Fingers Hunter in a TAB Highway at Randwick in early February.
Nick Heywood has the ride on the gelding at Goulburn and Davison would like to see things go right for him for a change.
“He worked very well on Saturday so it should be all systems go, he finally drew a barrier which will help, and we’ll see how we go from there,” he said.
“His ability is getting him nearly there. Hopefully he can possie up just behind the pace, in the first six or seven and get a clear crack at them and show what he’s capable of.
“He recovered a lot quicker than I expected and he’s back to where he should be.
“He should still be undefeated really, the bonus is you’re getting in with 56kg but now he has to perform to our expectations.”
The winner is granted a place in the $1 million Evergreen Turf Country Championships Final.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
