Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Crashing through the alsynite roof of his carport and hurtling headlong towards the concrete surface almost four metres below, Aldo Cortopassi instinctively thrust his hands out to protect his head.
He survived, but was badly battered, bloodied and bruised in that dramatic experience six months ago when he emerged with fractures to both wrists and his right elbow.
A constant reminder of that traumatic occurrence are lengthy scars, complete with jigsaw patterns of stitching along both forearms.
And now the 49-year-old Cortopassi is harness racing’s version of the bionic man who received a perfect panacea for his misfortune when he returned to action at Gloucester Park this month and at his second appearance after his rehabilitation, he drove Vinita Rose to victory in the 2130m Taste Of WA Pace on Friday night.
Cortopassi has revealed remarkable resilience and outstanding character to fight back and regain full fitness after his latest catastrophe which has left him with a metal plate in his left wrist and a metal rod in his other wrist after a bone had been cut to allow for that remedy.
He also underwent surgery to reconstruct his shattered right elbow, which he describes as his fake elbow.
Not only does Cortopassi rely on steel and titanium to keep his body in workable shape, he has three metal plates in his right shoulder (after being involved in a race accident at Pinjarra about 20 years ago) and has a steel plate around his left eye socket which was inserted during plastic surgery after he sustained three fractures in a freak race accident at Gloucester Park in April 2022.
For good measure he received rib fractures in a race fall when driving Allwoods Rocknroll at Gloucester Park three months earlier.
He was driving the same pacer when he was injured in the April accident which occurred when a horse fractured a leg and fell, causing interference to other runners, including Allwoods Rocknroll, and one of which kicked him in the face.
Cortopassi’s most recent mishap happened when he was on the roof unblocking a down pipe, and he now compares himself to mythical $6 million man Steve Austin, an American astronaut portrayed by Lee Majors in a science fiction television series.
After being laid low following his household accident Cortopassi sent his team of pacers to be prepared by Blythewood trainer Michael Munro.
“He approached me when I was injured to see if I needed a hand, and full credit to Mike, he has done a great job with them all,” said Cortopassi. “So, I have left them with him, and Vinita Rose benefits by working with his team of nice Free-For-All mares.
“Vinita Rose is a dour pacer who loves leading or breezing. Even though she ran last (behind Copy Cat Queen) last week, her run was full of merit. She made up 15 metres on the leaders and got home in just over 55sec.”
Vinita Rose, a well-supported $3.60 second fancy in Friday night’s race, dashed to the front from barrier three, relished her pacemaking role and won by 2m from the $2 favourite Our Twinkle, who fought on gamely after enjoying an ideal passage in the one-out, one-back position.
The win gave Cortopassi his 1556th victory in the sulky, and the New Zealand-bred six-year-old and one of only two mares in the race, is a strongly-built pacer capable of winning more races.
She has earned $106,039 from nine wins and 16 placings from 50 starts. She is by former star pacer Vincent and is the fourth foal out of Elsu mare Crimson Glory, who managed only two wins from 49 starts in New Zealand.
Crimson Glory’s claim to fame is that her younger half-sister Sudden Change retired with a remarkable record of 298 starts for 57 wins, 75 placings and $520,030 in prizemoney. She won twice in New Zealand, twice in New South Wales, six times in Victoria and once in Tasmania (in the Group 3 2015 Tasmanian Oaks) before travelling to America where she won another 46 times.
While Cortopassi remains as an accomplished reinsman, he also enjoys his role as RWWA’s harness driving mentor and is a guiding light for the State’s up-and-coming young drivers.
“Apart from that I am doing a lot of school-based training with Year 11 students, introducing them to racing, both code, thoroughbreds and harness,” he said.
“There is a lot more to the racing industry apart from riding, driving and training. There is stewarding, curators, farriers, judging etc. I try to see what they’re looking for and place them in the right area. Hopefully, next year we will be able to take this scheme State-wide while we are looking to introduce fresh blood into the horse racing industry.”