Murray Bridge Trackwork Rider Hazel Fertier says she was “blown away” to win both the Horsemanship and the Thoroughbred Excellence Award at the Australian Stud and Stable Staff Awards on the Gold Coast last night.
Described as the backbone of several training operations, Hazel was honoured for her dedication and expertise with the thoroughbred.
“I’m absolutely blown away and completely didn’t expect it at all. It’s a massive honour to throw in the Excellence Award.
“The recognition 100% makes all the hard work worthwhile. There are so many people that do the same job and are just as deserving as well so to be acknowledged and rewarded like this it’s just huge.
“I was definitely going in hoping, and knew I was favourite, but you still never know. It was such a great night and such a good thing to go too,” she said.
A dozen trainers at Murray Bridge testified to Hazel’s talent, devotion, and character in support of her nomination and she’s already sent out a text message thanking them all.
The awards come as a timely boost for Hazel who’s been sidelined for the past six weeks due to a nasty fall at trackwork.
She’s still in a knee brace and using crutches. The best-case scenario is that she’ll be back in the saddle mid-July.
“I fell off one just trotting back in and landed awkwardly and hyper extended my knee. I’ve got an avulsion fracture to the tibia.
“The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) ripped a chunk of bone off the tibia rather than rupturing itself which is probably a good thing to happen. So we just need the bone to heal back together, and the MCL (medial cruciate ligament) tore as well but that’s going to fix itself fine.
“Thankfully we have managed to avoid surgery so far and in two weeks I can hopefully start rehab.
“The injuries aren’t giving me any pain. It’s the inconvenience not to be able to weight bare and not to be able to go to work and ride the horses, but I think everyone at Murray Bridge is making do and I’m just biding my time and hopefully I’ll be back before I know it.”
