Leigh Adamson collected a £4,000 cheque for providing the World Pool Moment of the Day following Cosmic Crusader’s Cox Plate victory

A racehorse groom who spent 18 days in a coma this year recovered to lead up the winner of Australia’s premier weight-for-age race.

Leigh Adamson works as assistant to trainer Andrea Leek and also leads up the stable’s star Cosmic Crusader. During the 2026-27 season Cosmic Crusader has won four times and risen to the top in October to win the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes and Cox Plate, as well as finish fourth in the Caulfield Cup.

His success in the £3million Cox Plate, run at Flemington on Saturday, completed a remarkable turnaround for Adamson who nearly died earlier this year after contracting a rare illness.

Afterwards he collected a £4,000 cheque for providing the World Pool Moment of the Day.

“It’s very surreal right now,” he said. “It honestly hasn’t sunk in, I don’t know what to say, it’s surreal.

“I had some major health concerns in Feb. I was in a coma for 18 days from Stevens-Johnson syndrome which is a severe allergic reaction to ibuprofen. So to go from having to learn to walk and talk to strapping two Group 1 winners in a year and a Cox Plate at headquarters, it doesn’t get any better.

“I’ve personally got to thank World Pool and the Hong Kong Jockey Club. I would never have envisioned winning any money as a strapper like this. This will go towards a house.”

Stevens-Johnson syndrome is officially described as a serious skin reaction usually caused by taking certain medicines which requires immediate hospital treatment.

In an interview after Cosmic Crusader’s Turnbull victory, Adamson admitted 2026 had been “a bit of a tumultuous year”.

He said: “Pretty much all the mucus membranes in my body shut down, all my skin peeled off. I literally woke up with no hair, my skin was all stuffed, it was pretty full on. This time in Feb I definitely would never have dared to dream of being here having won a Group 1. This is just huge, this is the pep up I needed.”