Horse clips heels coming out of the gate in a 2-turn race at Del Mar. Jockey is down, horse runs off. Jockey is still down. No official stops the race, no medical personnel made any definitive move, so the gate crew picks up the jockey by his arms and legs and carries him out of the way so the race can finish. He had a freaking neck injury. I mean, this really is just ridiculous:
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Were the gate crew saving him from being run over? At least they thought so? Not that this makes the it right in any way.
I never know what to think when, in an urgent situation, everyone who is supposed to do something – doesn’t.
I’m sure that moving a fallen rider is not on a gate crew’s assigned task list. No one else is doing anything, so someone thought they should do something to be sure the jockey wasn’t trampled. Guessing, of course.
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Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.
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I fully agree with this sentiment.
Gate crew don’t have the jurisdiction to stop the race, medical personnel wasn’t attending him… Were the GC trying to prevent him from being run over? Yes, it sounds like the gate crew shouldn’t have moved him, but where were the medical personnel, the officials? Absent a judgment call from either, I’m not so sure I would have let Cedillo sit there while they came back around the turn either. Sounds like a soup-show.
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I dont think anyone is calling out the gate crew. they are calling out the fact that it had to get to the gate crew to make a decision which ultimately could’ve paralyzed him had the injury ben bad enough.
It should have never reached that point.
If the jockey is down on the track and not moving due to neck pain; someone should have been radio’d immediately or jumped in to make a call to pull up on the backstretch. He fell right in front of the gate in front of the grandstand with the ambulance within seconds.
It should have been obvious when the horses were out of the first turn that he wasn’t moving and safety should be paramount. The Gtae Crew shouldve never been left to have to make that call
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Are there procedures in place for pulling up a field mid race? How often has it happened?
British and Irish racing, an ambulance runs along just behind the racing horses.
Do they also have a procedure for stopping the field if they cannot stabilize a fallen rider quick enough?
I’ve seen it happen (once) when the tractor that was supposed to pull the starting gate off the track wouldn’t start. The race announcer started yelling “Pull up! Pull up!” (Not that I think the jockeys can hear him…) and the outriders galloped to the second turn and started yelling and waving as the horses left the backstretch. Most horses were pulled up uneventfully. One jockey was somehow oblivious until he saw the gate in front of him, and he then pulled up.
Most falls are in jump racing, usually associated with a fence. A fence will be blocked off so the racing horses go around it while the casualty, rider or horse, is dealt with. Most flat races may involve a bend or two but the courses are long enough that the horses won’t run past a second time. Jump races are longer and may involve a second circuit.
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Saw this at a county fair. Only they didn’t pull up the jock in front guided his horse to the gap between the gate and the rail and all others followed. It was very scary.
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I’ve seen it often here in the US in harness racing.
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