Jockey Rafael Bejarano has been hospitalized after being stepped on by a trailing horse when his mount broke down in a race at Santa Anita Park May 10.
Joe Ferrer, agent for the 32-year-old rider, says Bejarano broke his collarbone and a rib in the fourth race Saturday. He was sent to Huntington Memorial Hospital and is expected to remain hospitalized for up to five days. Ferrer says Bejarano has no brain, internal, or spinal injuries.
Bejarano was in second coming down the track's hillside turf course when his mount Gameboy Luke broke down nearing the quarter pole, unseating the rider. Track stewards say Bejarano appeared to have been struck by a trailing horse.
Gameboy Luke, a 3-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding trained by Mark Glatt, sustained a compound fracture to his left foreleg and was euthanized. He was the 6-5 favorite in the eight-horse field.
Bejarano, who led North America in wins in 2004, is ranked fifth nationally in purse earnings this year with $4.92 million, according to Equibase. The Peru native has never won a Triple Crown race, but he won last year's Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. I) and the BC Juvenile Sprint in 2011.
Rafael Bejarano
Benoit Photo