Florent Geroux, the jockey who was hospitalized following a spill in the sixth race on Keeneland's Oct. 5 opening day card, suffered two fractured vertebrae and a broken right wrist in the accident, Keeneland reported Oct. 6.
"He's busted up pretty good," said the jockey's agent, Steve Bass. "It's a shame because he was just getting started. I don't know how long he'll be out."
The jockey, a French native, was turning for home aboard the George Arnold-trained Primetime Lassie when his mount clipped heels with Dallas Stewart trainee Syriana's Song. Jockey Larry Sterling Jr., on the James Brookfield-trained Misty Ocean, was unable to avoid the fallen horse and rider and ran over them.
Sterling stood up and walked to the track ambulance, while Geroux remained where he had fallen. Both jockeys were transported to Keeneland's first aid station. Sterling eventually returned to the jockeys' room. Geroux, complaining of pain in his back and right wrist, was transported to Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington.
Geroux, who has been racing since 2002, has won 106 races in his career, all overseas. This year, he has ridden sparingly at Hawthorne, Keeneland, Santa Anita, Saratoga, and Turfway. He has two seconds and two thirds from nine starts in the U.S.
