Veteran trainer Bruce Purcell remains in a critical condition, three days after being airlifted to a Melbourne hospital with serious injuries after an incident at the Cranbourne training centre.

Purcell suffered the injuries in an accident with one of his horses when it was being unloaded from a float.

Australian Trainers' Association president Robbie Griffiths, who also trains at Cranbourne, said the 76-year-old was stable.

"He's very critical still but he's been stable in at The Alfred," Griffiths told RSN927.

"(Wife) Jean Purcell has been kind enough to text me daily so that we can keep everyone up to speed as to how he's going, and he obviously got dragged at the time of the incident and as a result of that it's multiple fractures around his head and face and ribs.

"So there was bleeding on the brain and all sorts of things like that.

"But there's been some positive signs. When they have reduced the sedation to see how his sensitivity is to pain and things like that, he has responded.

"So we're all taking that as a positive that that's a good thing. But they're keeping him in an induced coma quite a lot to make sure his body has some chance to rest and get some peace so that he can recover.

"It's a long road ahead, and he's still in a critical condition, but he's pretty tough Bruce so we're all hoping that that toughness, now is a good time to use it."

Griffiths said Purcell had been a big part of the Cranbourne training community for a long time.

Purcell had a runner at Caulfield on Saturday, with No New Tricks unplaced in a 2000m-race for three-year-olds.