Just months after the helicopter crash, Sam Thomas is hoping his horse, Our Strength, can ride to National Great Glory. Photo: Jay Williams
When a helicopter carrying Dye Walters and Sam Thomas clipped a tree shortly after takeoff and crashed to the ground near Denbigh in the early evening of November 1 last year, the odds were that either of them would compete in the Randox Grand National at this year, looked thin.
And while Thomas, a jockey who won the Gold Cup at his previous job, walked away with nothing more than a physical and mental shakedown, it didn't look so good for Walters, 77, a self-made construction magnate who loves racing so much that he not only owns horses, but and built Ffos Las, the UK's newest racetrack, on the site of a quarry.
With a broken neck and back, eight broken ribs, sternum and heel, he spent the next three and a half months in intensive care, first in North Wales, and then to London, and that says a lot about his granite-like physique, which, among his visitors in the hospital, were three horsemen of the apocalypse under the guise of pneumonia, Covid and sepsis.
He is now recuperating at home near Cardiff, where Thomas is training 35 of his horses across the garden, including Our Strength, the only runner not to lose this season's Saturday race, and is vying to be the first Welsh winner since Kirkland trained Tenby, in 1905.
“All I remember is that we were in the helicopter for less than 30 seconds,” he says, taking a break from the intense physical therapy he receives daily. “I saw him approaching the trees and I was like, ‘Keep it up, keep it up. Then we crashed into a tree. It landed on his backend. There were four guys under 40 with families and I was afraid it would catch fire. They all had to climb over me to get out.
“I remember how they took me into the building, into the house, and then everything went out. Otherwise, I can't remember being in a hospital in North Wales. I remember being transferred to Wellington for a little while, but I was away for about seven weeks. They didn't think I could make it, they said that few would have survived pneumonia, Covid and sepsis.
“I'm getting my strength back but I can't keep it up for too long and I'll be watching the race on TV from home . It's nice to win any big race, and it's one of the biggest.»
Da Walters was lucky he survived the helicopter. accident last November — he has since survived pneumonia, Covid and sepsis. Photo: Shutterstock/Hugh Routledge
In the yard for Thomas, who was born in Abergavenny, this winter, too, was not all smooth sailing. He returned to Wales from Lambourne in May 2018 and in 2021 scored his biggest win when Yvilldoit won the Welsh National Championship at his local Chepstow circuit.
Horses including Our Power got off to a good start in this season, but many other shipyards suffered an intermediate error before returning to form this spring.
“I heard a big explosion, I realized that something was wrong, and we began to descend,” he recalls of the accident. “After the accident, I was crippled for a couple of days, although nothing broke, and it took me some time to recover, but Dai was in a much worse condition, so we did not feel sorry for ourselves. He missed sick horses and had some good wins lately.”
Our state had its own problems. He won the prized London Gold Cup at Ascot on the Saturday before the helicopter crash, returned home in such a state that he had to miss the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury and take a month off before returning to win the Coral Trophy Handicap at Kempton in February.
Thomas with «Our Strength», who goes to the Grand National undefeated this year. Photo: Jay Williams
At the time, after the weights for the National were announced, he was so far from the handicap that it looked like he would not pass the cut, but now it looks brilliant; he races 6 pounds less than he would have to carry if the race were to be rehandicapped now.
“Being 6 pounds is good,” admits Thomas , — but in the National may not mean anything. He is very calm. Both times this season I thought he would need a run and I think he will come out of Kempton. When he took a month off, we almost had to start from scratch.”
At the moment, our strength has one thing in common with red rum; he is Flat, raised, in fact, by a sprinter. Few of his rivals saw the racecourse at two years of age on Saturday as he did when he ran to Ffos-Las. But an eight-year-old boy's summer coat has arrived, and he looks like a picture before what will be his most formidable test yet.
Recalling the connection with Walters, Thomas says: “He called when I was in Lambourne, I had 15 horses, there was no flag bearer, and I was passing by. It was my lifeline. It took a couple of years to get comfortable with this place. It wasn't an easy decision at the time, but now it's the best thing I've done. I am a proud Welshman, mum and dad are not that far away, it's quiet here and I can go to cricket and rugby. The lifestyle is good — sometimes you can't get away from it in Lambourne.»
What's more, Walters was able to level the hill so that a flat, sandy canter of just over a furlong could be built, an object that Thomas describes as key to the shipyard's success this season.
His career as a jockey from 2003 to 2015 was relatively short by today's standards. Some jockeys older than him still ride. Starting with Venetia Williams, he moved on to Paul Nicholls as second jockey behind Ruby Walsh and famously won the 2008 Gold Cup at Denman.
“At the time, I took it all for granted,” he explains. “In every yard, Paul had a horse of the first group, and I thought that was normal. Every Saturday I had some very good trips. It's only when you get to the first jockey that the pressure becomes a little different. Paul is a relentless competitor — that's why he's a champion — but you have to have a certain mentality to survive in this environment.»
Unlike many jockey-turned-coaches who say otherwise, he thinks it's impossible. to recreate the thrill of riding a winner. «I don't think you can replicate that feeling,» he says. “It's a relief for a coach. When you ride, you think you matter. You don't realize you're just doing your thing and trying not to screw it up.»
Ironically, the man running Our Power around Aintree on Saturday is Sam Twiston-Davies, another jockey whose the ride was badly damaged. under the pressure of being Nicholls' first jockey. «He's the best guy,» says Thomas, who has raced four times. «He's the only person I can call to talk about horses at 6:00 and I know he'll answer.»
Winning the Walters and Wales National Championship didn't even cross Thomas' mind. “I can't imagine what it will be like,” he says. «I'm well aware of what it takes to get around it, and after everything that's happened this season, it's just nice to be there at all.»
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