She returned to riding this past spring at Emerald Downs after a 12-year hiatus, collecting more than 50 wins. She returned to Portland Meadows at the meet's opening with a bang, winning five races on opening day including the featured Inaugural Handicap aboard Slewicide Cruise.
Portland Meadows leading rider Debbie Hoonan endured multiple injuries when her mount T K Owe stumbled Friday night.Hoonan suffered an open compound fracture of her left clavicle and two broken ribs in the ensuing fall. Doctors at Legacy Emanuel Hospital performed surgery on her last night to clean out the injured area and reset the bone."They couldn't do too much because it would make me susceptible to an infection," Hoonan said from her hospital bed Saturday morning. "The opened me up, irrigated the area, cleaned it, then stitched me back up."Hoonan said she expects to recover in time to gallop horses at Emerald Downs in preparation for that meet, which opens in April."There wasn't any warning before we went down," Hoonan said. "We were bumped a bit at the start but when we hit the turn he didn't bobble or anything. He just seemed to disappear from under me. It was the hardest I've ever gone down."Hoonan leads all Portland Meadows riders with 29 wins in 140 starts (21%) and has finished in the money a total of 78 times (56%). She also has three quarter horse wins to her credit in 13 starts.