The Tampa Bay Downs Division of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America has established a fund to assist exercise rider Erasmo Tranquilino, who was critically injured Jan. 18 in a fall from a golf cart in the barn area of the track.
Tranquilino, 23, suffered a fractured skull and a brain injury in the accident and remains at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where he is making a slow but steady recovery. The fund is helping to defray his medical costs and aid family members.
Tranquilino worked for trainer Leigh Delacour for the past three years. He was the regular exercise rider on stakes winner Lentenor , a full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Barbaro. Lentenor has entered stud at Calumet Farm near Lexington.
Anyone wishing to assist Tranquilino can do so in one of two ways—by making a donation via PayPal at the Race Track Chaplaincy of America-Tampa Bay Downs Division's website, www.rtcatbd.org (you must specify your donation is for the Erasmo Tranquilino Fund) or by mailing donations to the track chaplaincy at RTCA-Tampa Bay Downs Division, P.O. Box 2211, Oldsmar, FL 34677. Checks should be made out to the RTCA.