BLACKISTON – “I DIDN’T KNOW IF I WAS ALIVE OR DEAD” April 27, 2021 11:35 am By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor Early yesterday, after a dramatic trackwork fall at Ballarat, trainer Nigel Blackiston wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. Blackiston had been riding more work than usual because of a track rider shortage he and others have described as “diabolical.” He’d cantered a lap of the inside sand on a particularly big horse, when the horse suddenly collapsed and died. Blackiston remembers nothing of the fall, just the dream. “All I remember is the horse went down and then I had these misty dreams, things like white roses and green fields. It was bizarre,” he said.