'I thought I was dead': Legendary jockey Jim Cassidy has brush with death in head-on car crash that left him with bleeding on the brain
- Hall of Fame jockey Jim Cassidy has opened up after almost dying on Saturday
- He was driving when another car allegedly veered to the wrong side of the road
- Cassidy retired in 2015, won two Melbourne Cups and three Australian Derbies
Two-time Melbourne Cup winner Jim Cassidy almost died in a head-on car crash that left him with internal bleeding on the brain and bruising to the body.
The jockey, 56, was on the phone to his wife Vicki when a car collided with his Nissan X-Trail at 4.30pm on Saturday in north-west Sydney.
He was turning a corner during wet weather when another car allegedly veered onto the wrong side of the road.
The accident happened near Lynwood Country Club where he played golf with former Australian cricketer Doug Bollinger in the afternoon.
Two-time Melbourne Cup winner Jim Cassidy almost died in a head-on car crash that left him with internal bleeding of the brain and bruising to the body. He is pictured after winning the Emirates Cup at Flemington racecourse in 1999
The Hall of Fame jockey was rushed to Westmead Hospital where he remains in a stable condition.
'I thought I was dead,' Cassidy said in a hospital bed interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.
'We were going around a corner. The other bloke came to the corner, I could see him, I was 50 metres away. All of a sudden, he went bang into my windscreen. He lost control on the wet road and just hit me head on. I had nowhere to go. If I went to the left, I would've hit a tree,' he said.
'I'm worried about my golf clubs and shoes... Normally it would be my riding gear but now that I play golf three times a week I'm worried about my golf gear. Do you know how hard it is to find a pair of size five golf shoes?'
'I thought I was dead,' Cassidy said in a hospital bed to the Sydney Morning Herald. He joked that he was 'worried about my golf clubs and shoes' because he has a small shoe size
He said he is 'blessed' to be alive and expects to leave hospital on Tuesday since his brain bleeding has stopped.
Cassidy said he has not been contacted by police about the accident.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said they were aware of the incident and that local police are investigating.
Cassidy, originally from New Zealand, retired from horse racing in 2015 after a 35-year career.
He has been inducted in the Australian and New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame, won the Melbourne Cup twice and won the Australian Derby three times.
He suffered a 14-centimetre crack to his sternum when he was sent hurling off a horse that then slid over him as it fell at Caulfield racecourse in 1991.
Cassidy said he is 'blessed' to be alive and expects to leave hospital on Tuesday since his brain bleeding has stopped. Cassidy has had a number of injuries in his racing career, including a 14-centimetre crack to his sternum in 1991
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