One of Canada’s leading drivers suffered a broken femur in a snowmobile accident.

by Melissa Keith

Bob McClure hasn’t driven at Woodbine Mohawk Park, or anywhere else, since Jan. 15. It’s no winter vacation for the 2019 Dan Patch Rising Star Award winner: He was injured in a snowmobile accident last week.

“But the story’s not nearly as sexy as it sounds,” said McClure with a laugh, recovering at home on Wednesday (Jan. 24). “Me and [fellow WMP driver] Doug McNair went out [snowmobiling]. It was the first time getting out this year. I think we were out for four hours. We were honestly just pulling into the driveway to park the sleds; we were all done. We were winding down and coming in the driveway, and as I went to make the turn, the back end hit some ice and the front end kind of caught. I kind of tipped over, not very fast… and I happened to land on my hip the wrong way. The femur took the brunt of it. It’s broken. I had to get surgery on Thursday [Jan. 18] at 3 in the morning. They’ve got a rod and some screws in there, which is good. That helps the healing process.”

He had started the new year with four WMP driving wins before the accident. Now, McClure said his focus is on a quick comeback, while making the most of the unexpected downtime.

“That’s the benefit of the surgery: To really make sure it heals very well,” he said. “I’m lucky right now. My oldest son is home sick from school this week, so me and him are hanging out… He’s pretty good company.”

Injuries are familiar terrain for drivers. McClure recalled previous setbacks.

“When I broke my pelvis in a similar spot in 2019, it required about eight weeks of physio, and then I broke my humerus, which is the second-biggest bone in your body [besides] your femur, and I broke that in an accident in 2020 at Mohawk, in November,” he said. “That couldn’t get surgery, because of where the break was, which is a problem. That slows down the healing process. That took about four months of physio, and it did take three or maybe four months to get back [driving]. If I hadn’t gotten surgery on this femur, it would have definitely been more than four months.”

Instead, he anticipates an accelerated recovery. 

“You work your way back in [to the WMP driving colony], just like everybody else has to,” said the Rockwood, ON horseman. “I know when I do come back, I’ve kind of made it a dedication that I was going to try and drive more, from early summer to fall this year, to maybe stay a little bit sharper, a little bit busier. I kind of took it a little easy the last couple of summers because, obviously, I want to spend time with my boys. Now my older son Ryder likes to come to the races with me.”

McClure had a series of waits before his latest surgery. It began with a wait for transport to the nearest hospital, and then to another.

“Where me and Doug [McNair] were parked was close to Orangeville, [ON] so I was ambulanced to the hospital in Orangeville, but they couldn’t handle this kind of injury or surgery, so they airlifted me to Sunnybrook [Hospital] in Toronto,” McClure said. “That was Wednesday night. Thursday, early morning, they informed me I was going to get surgery that day, so I told my wife Jody and everybody that any minute, I could get called in for surgery. Then the whole day went by, and nothing… All of a sudden, at 2:30 in the morning, they come in and woke me up… at 3 o’clock in the morning, roughly, I got the surgery done. I was back in my room by about 5 and they had me up walking with a walker, putting weight on it, around 10 in the morning, which is pretty amazing.”

McClure said he told hospital staff that he would like to get home as soon as possible, but this was complicated by the stairs in his house. He requested crutches, so he could train for his homecoming while in the hospital.

“I got up the stairs, so they let me go on Sunday,” he said. “My friend Josh McKibbin came and got me. I hit a roadblock, something went wrong with my left knee, and I ended up back in the hospital on Monday.”

After having his knee checked out, McClure suffered a third bit of bad fortune.

“When I got home, I got in from the garage, and must have had snow on the crutch and it gave out. Now I’ve got a pulled groin too.”

Although a slightly-delayed recovery will prevent the star-crossed reinsman from attending the 2023 O’Brien Awards gala on Feb. 3 in Charlottetown, PEI, he told HRU that he wished he could attend the banquet to show support for good friends who are divisional finalists.

“It would have been nice going for Sylvia [Hanover],” McClure said. “She’s a slam dunk for the 3-Year-Old Filly Pacer and a really good shot for the Horse of the Year. I also really wish I could be there for Etsell. Everybody knows how close me and Mark are. He’s like a father to me. He’s up for four O’Briens [Trainer of the Year, O’Brien Award of Horsemanship, and as trainer and co-owner of Older Trotting Mare Adare Castle and 2-Year-Old Trotting Colt Willowtime]. He’s been a big part of my success, and he will be, going forward. He was actually here yesterday, plowing my driveway.”

Sylvia Hanover’s return to the track is another occasion McClure anticipates.

“All I can say is that anytime she’s racing and they list my name, I’ll be there,” he said.

Trainers Mark and Shawn Steacy will make decisions around the Dan Patch 2- and 3-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year’s impending 4-year-old season, along with Sylvia Hanover’s owners, Tony and Betty Infilise (Hudson Standardbred Inc., Hudson, QC).

“It’s just been such a blessing to be along for the ride with her, and it’s amazing she’s coming back at 4,” McClure said of the champion filly that no other driver has sat behind in a pari-mutuel start. “I think everybody wants to see that, and see how good she can be.

“The [2023] Breeders Crown [final], she must’ve been tired that day, but she still got it done. She was a little goofy at 2, and she still got the job done. She was way better at 3. God help them if she comes back full-racehorse at 4, because she’s one of the most talented racehorses I’ve ever seen.”

As far as his own comeback goes, McClure is staying realistic.

“In 2021, I missed four or five months,” he said. “Nobody bounces out of that, really. Last year, I was real happy, obviously. I had Sylvia [Hanover]; I won two [Ontario Sires Stakes Gold] Super Finals; I had a good money year. I still feel like there’s more out there for me. I can do better.”

He said recovery will likely take him to Florida.

“I thought about maybe attending the Dan Patch [Awards] in Orlando…” he said. “Me and my wife might try to trek down, if I can walk a little bit better by then… I’m sure by March. I love going down and checking out babies and driving some of the 3-year-olds that are coming back. I’ve gone down the last four or five years for that, and I love that.”

The WMP regular recalled returning from a prior injury by getting back into his routine in the Sunshine State.

“In 2021, I went down in February,” McClure said. “I started back in Florida after I broke my arm, because I wanted to try driving at Pompano… Last year, I went to see Scott McEneny. He had some nice colts and a 3-year-old coming back that I really liked. We stopped in to see Paul Reid; he’s always got one floating around. I’ve got a good relationship with Paul, and George Ducharme had one he wanted me to check out last year, so I popped in [at Spring Garden Ranch].

“Then I traveled down to Sunshine Meadows. I like going down to Sunshine Meadows too, because there’s a lot of Ontario trainers there too, like another guy I’ve got a really good relationship with, Dan Legace. He’s got a great eye for yearlings, so it’s nice to go down and see what he’s coming back with, too.”

McClure said he expects to pick up the pace of rehabilitation over the coming weeks.

“I’m going to be using the hyperbaric chamber for the two months, physio,” he said. “I’m going to do everything I can to speed it along. I want to be sitting behind horses in March, get the feel back, and hopefully be driving [races] again in April, and really make a strong push this summer.”

In the meantime, McClure said he will be enjoying time with his wife Jody and their sons 2-year-old Jayce and 8-year-old Ryder, although not as he had originally hoped.

“The two times I got hurt racing, I didn’t feel sorry for myself,” he said. “I just said, ‘That’s life, that’s the job, that’s a part of it.’ It didn’t bother me mentally, at all. This one kind of upsets me, because I didn’t have to go snowmobiling… Not that we were doing anything stupid or reckless. Now I can’t play hockey with my son; I can’t take them tobogganing. That kind of upsets me a little bit. I feel that I selfishly deprived them of a really good winter.”