Kuntzweiler Injured in Churchill Training Accident

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Jockey Greta Kuntzweiler suffered a back injury in a training accident May 21 at Churchill Downs and could be out of action for three months.

The 26-year-old Kuntzweiler was injured when a 2-year-old filly she had just worked stumbled and fell near the seven-eighths pole. Kuntzweiler said an initial diagnosis at Caritas Medical Center in Louisville indicated that she fractured a vertebrae near her shoulder blades.

She is now wearing a brace, but hopes to have more promising information following an examination of her injury May 23.

"I thought I just knocked the wind out of myself," Kuntzweiler said. "My back hurt immediately when it happened, but I thought it was just from getting the wind knocked out of me. I didn't think anything of it. But the more I kind of walked around and I sat down, I couldn't relieve the pressure and it just felt like it was getting tight and it was hurting. So I decided to go on in and get it checked out."

Kuntzweiler and the horse eventually got up under their own power after the spill.

Kuntzweiler had failed to win in 53 mounts this spring at Churchill, but she won the riding title at the winter/spring meet at Turfway Park with 57 victories. She had hoped to gain momentum in the second half of the Churchill meet.

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