John Reece hasn't time for lying around in hospital recovering from a heart attack. He's got horses to train.
Speaking from his bed at Dunedin Hospital yesterday, the 60-year-old Invercargill trainer admitted when he woke up in hospital after cheating death at the Wingatui races on Tuesday, his main worry was his horses.
Happily, those worries are behind him after his employees, former employees and fellow trainers rallied to make sure his horses were looked after.
"Everybody's just been magic."
And he felt a lot better.
"I feel right as rain now, better than I did yesterday [Tuesday] morning."
Mr Reece collapsed when he was preparing to get his horses on the road back to Invercargill after the races on Tuesday.
"I was just going in with Terry [Moseley, a jockey] to pick up the colours and we were walking back out when I said to Terry, 'I could do with a Speights, mate; jeez, I'm dry'. I felt a bit dizzy, and that was it. I was out."
Mr Moseley and fellow Christchurch jockey Corey Argue cleared Mr Reece's airways and gave him CPR until an ambulance officer arrived.
Mr Reece said yesterday he was very grateful to everyone who had helped him, especially the jockeys, ambulance staff and medical staff at the hospital.
"They're worth their weight in gold."
He was also grateful to those in the racing community who had stepped up to help with his horses.
He understood he had actually died at one stage, but was resuscitated.
Having never had any sign of heart trouble before, it was strange knowing he had already met death, he said.
Doctors would meet again tomorrow to discuss whether he required a coronary bypass.
In the meantime, he was already a bit bored, and if his bid to convince the nursing staff to put on a dancing show failed, he would be happy enough just to get hold of a television before Saturday so he could watch some races, he said.
