CHAMPION jockey Damien Oliver arrived in a helicopter but left in the back of an ambulance after a terrifying stalls incident.
The 49-year-old was rushed to hospital just days after cheating death in a hot air balloon disaster.
Oliver stayed in Warrnambool hospital overnight after a nasty stalls fall on Thursday.
The Melbourne Cup-winning jockey was on Ethekwini when the horse played up in the gates.
Oliver was crushed up against the barriers but fortunately a scan revealed he had not broken his neck and the horse was also unharmed.
The Victorian Jockeys’ Association confirmed: “Good news from Warrnambool hospital is that scans on Damien Oliver’s neck have returned clear of any fracture.”
Oliver will now make a last-minute call about racing on Saturday, where he is currently booked for six rides.
The jockey’s latest brush with disaster comes just days after he cheated death in a hot air balloon disaster.
Oliver looked a little worse for wear anyway on footage captured from inside the hot air balloon flown over Flemington racecourse at the end of last month.
But as it began its descent, the balloon got caught up in a light pole.
Video showed the pole tearing the balloon as it came down, forcing it into an emergency landing on the track.
Speaking afterwards, Oliver, who looked a little shaken, said: “When we were coming down and we hit that pole I thought, ‘oh, jeeze, oh no’.
“I thought I’ve been riding horses for 30-odd years with an ambulance chasing me round the track and it’s all going to end here in a bloody basket on the track.”
Oliver is a three-time winner of Australia’s biggest race.
His most memorable victory came aboard Media Puzzle in 2002 – just days after his brother Jason’s death in a racing accident.
Oliver said at the time: “I would give the trophy back to see my brother again.”
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