Details Released of Exercise Rider Death

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The Maryland Jockey Club revealed Wednesday details of the accident to an exercise rider who was killed Tuesday morning during training at Pimlico Race Course near Baltimore.

Sheri Garcia, an exercise rider from southern Pennsylvania, suffered head
trauma when she struck a heavily padded pole near the half-mile mark on the
backstretch of the track.

Garcia was trying to rein in Will I Ever when the horse became disorderly and bolted toward the gap in the track that leads back to the barn area. The horse tossed Garcia into the outer pole. Garcia was unconscious when medics arrived. She was taken to nearby Sinai Hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.

"On behalf of all of us at the Maryland Jockey Club, our thoughts and prayers are with family of the victim," said Lou Raffetto, chief operating officer of the MJC. "This is devastating news to everyone in the racing community."

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