Race to save trainer's life at Wingatui

Quick acting jockeys, St John ambulance staff and a defibrillator may have saved the life of Invercargill trainer John Reece at Wingatui yesterday.

Mr Reece collapsed suffering from a cardiac arrest in the weigh-in room about 1.45pm.

It is understood his heart stopped.

St John ambulance officer Dave Hay praised the prompt action of Christchurch jockeys Terry Moseley and Corey Argue in clearing Mr Reece's airways.

Mr Moseley said he was chatting to Mr Reece about his horse.

"He said 'I need a beer, I'm hot'. All of a sudden, his head hit my shoulder and he dropped like a stone."

Mr Moseley said he rolled Mr Reece over and cleared his airways before urgently seeking medical help.

Meanwhile, Mr Argue undertook CPR until Mr Hay arrived and used a defibrillator to re-start Mr Reece's heart.

Mr Hay said the machine was an important factor in saving Mr Reece's life.

Mr Reece's horse, Midnite Murma's, had finished second at Wingatui 20 minutes before he collapsed.

He saddled his first runner for 14 years at a race meeting earlier this year when he started Midnite Murma's at Riverton. He trained winners Heroic Sea, King Pin and Copper King in the early 1990s before he quit training to drive milk tankers.

A Dunedin Hospital spokeswoman last night said Mr Reece was in a serious but stable condition.