UNLUCKY to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but lucky to be still here to tell the tale - that's Ryedale stablegirl Anne Blanchard, who is on the road to recovery after getting on the wrong side her beloved sprinter Artie as she attempted to bring him in from a paddock.

Out of sheer exuberance, the three-year-old gelding gave an almighty jump and kick and caught his misfortunate groom "right underneath my jaw."

Think what it must feel like to be on the receiving end of a full-blooded uppercut from Lennox Lewis, multiply it and, then, just for good measure, stick a steel shoe on the end of it, and you get some idea of the force of the hammer blow that felled her.

"It was just one of those things, being in the wrong place at the wrong time," says Anne. "I don't care to think about how lucky I was, or how bad it might have been."

It was bad enough, in any case. Knocked unconscious, with her jaw in bits and the inside of her mouth cut to ribbons, she lost so much blood, and had such difficulty breathing, that no sooner had she arrived at York District Hospital than a tracheotomy was performed to open her airways.

After several days in intensive care, not to mention a four-hour operation to piece together her shattered jaw with a plate and wire her loosened teeth, Anne emerged from the woods to begin her recuperation back at her Marton home, only a couple of miles from her workplace at the Tim Easterby yard where the accident happened. Now, some four weeks on, and sick to death of liquidised food, she is "getting there, slowly."

"I still get headaches and get tired very easily, but things are steadily improving. The surgeon did a great job, you will hardly be able to see where he's been, and luckily in one way, the main cut I had, from my lip to my ear, was inside my mouth."

Anne, 40, is able to recall nothing of her accident. "All I remember is going into the field to bring him in, and seeing him walking towards me. After that it's blank," she said.

"All I know is what Steve Lawes and David O'Meara, who were there, have told me - that Artie heard another horse give a bit of a squeal and that he whipped round and gave buck and a kick. It wasn't his fault I was standing where I was."

Well-wishers have come out in force since, and Anne is particularly grateful for all the cards - nearly 100 in total - she's received, not to mention enough flowers to fill a church.

"I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone, including the Easterbys, Alf Arton, the owner of Artie, Dale Gibson, who rode him to win last month's William Hill Trophy at York, and the William Hill company, who all sent me flowers. It was very thoughtful and very much appreciated."

Updated: 09:14 Wednesday, July 24, 2002