Richard Rigney, Phil Bauer, John Moynihan okay after Australia plane crash

John Moynihan, bloodstock adviser to Stonestreet Farm, trainer Philip Bauer, who is coming off a career year, and Thoroughbred owner Richard Rigney were among those who escaped serious injury in a plane crash in Australia on Monday.

According to reports from the Australian media, nine Kentuckians, plus a local pilot, were on a light plane that took off from Lizard Island, off the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Monday morning, local time. The plane experienced a mechanical malfunction shortly after takeoff and returned to the tarmac, but clipped trees on the way down and flipped.

All 10 aboard the plane were able to crawl out of the wreckage.

"We all made it and are safe," Moynihan said in a text to the Thoroughbred Daily News. In a clip from Australia's 9 News, Moynihan can be seen walking under his own power to an ambulance for examination.

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Australia's Royal Flying Doctor Service dispatched helicopters to the scene to transport the survivors to a hospital in Cairns for further examination. Stephanie Beatty, a nurse with the RFDS, said that one unnamed passenger suffered a broken arm, and another a minor head injury, while most of the passengers were "shaken, but okay."

In a clip from 7 News Australia, Bauer, who trained his first Grade 1 winner, Played Hard, in 2023, is seen being transported in a wheelchair on his way to evaluation.

"Alive and well, very lucky," he says to a 7 News reporter as he passes by.

The Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale in Queensland runs from Jan. 9-16. In a report from the Racing Post, the auction house's managing director, Barry Bowditch, said he was was made aware of the identities of those involved on Tuesday morning. He confirmed that other passengers included Richard Rigney - who Bauer trains for - his wife Tammy, their 14-year-old daughter Madison; Moynihan's wife Helena; and Bauer's wife Ashley.

“They’re great friends of Magic Millions, both Richard and Tammy Rigney and John and Helena Moynihan,” Bowditch said. “I spoke to John this morning and all is in order, they’re all in good health and reasonable spirits. They were incredibly lucky to be able to walk away from a catastrophe, really.”

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