Winters rises from the bed with Easter winner Trainer Michael Winters bounced back from a recent injury with a timely Easter Monday success today, as his Down To The Alley Syndicate’s River Vale (10/3) was a popular winner of Cork’s Coolmore N.H. Sires Kyprios Handicap Chase. Ridden by Gavin Brouder, the prominent-racing ten-year-old led from the third-last and finished well to score by 1.75 lengths from Glenashling, in today’s €25,000 feature race at the Munster venue. Winters has recently recovered from a Thurles-races accident on March 5 when he was knocked over in the parade ring, with racing being delayed as his injury was assessed. One of racing’s characters, Winters, 69, reported “I’ve had a couple of bad accidents in the last few years so your body kind of shuts down, and I put down a couple of bad nights after Thurles. “A first-time-out horse backed in on top of me, knocked me over and ‘buried’ me. I got bruised all over, and the real injuries came in the sternum, ribs and collarbone areas. With the way the world is going and with people receiving treatment for various things, you’d be thankful it wasn’t worse. “I’m used to the injuries and if I printed them, it would take a book, but I’m nearly gone to the stage now with one more thump, I’ll say goodbye. “I rode out six horses this morning though.” Regarding River Vale, the dual Galway Hurdle-winner added “he was unlucky as the young fella who rode him weighed in light after finishing second on a recent run and then was clear, only to fall at the final-fence (in mid-February). There was €13,000 in prizemoney the different between those. “I had told Trevor Hemmings that this horse would be ‘buried in the land’ when I sold him and, when he passed away, the family kindly gave him to us. This syndicate, from Duhallow, are a good old gang and there are about four birthday parties tonight, so this is falling in lovely!” Winters was grateful for his medical treatment and concluded “I was conscious but in pain on the ground that day, and I must give credit for Dr McGoldick and the medical team at Thurles. I was in their hands and they were fantastic, and the treatment I received at Clonmel hospital was also something else.”
