Jockey John McKee took off his mounts on Thursday because of lingering soreness in his back and neck following a riding accident in the starting gate on Wednesday. McKee avoided serious injury when he was thrown from his mount in the gate prior to the seventh race.McKee was transported to Caritas Medical Center after the incident, which occured before the seventh race at Churchill Downs.McKee was scheduled to ride Tricky Storm in the race, but was thrown from his mount when the 4-year-old horse became fractious after entering the stall in the starting gate. The 21-year-old rider was removed from the track and transported to the hospital by ambulance. He complained of "neck tenderness" after his fall and underwent precautionary X-rays at Caritas.Tricky Storm was not injured and went on to win the race under replacement rider Sidney LeJeune Jr.The incident involving McKee was the second to cause a delay in the start of the seventh race, which had been scheduled for 4:28 p.m. (EDT) and was eventually delayed by 24 minutes.
Earlier jockey Daniel Coa elected not to ride his mount, Bert's Nicky, in the race. Bert's Nicky was returned to the paddock, where jockey Rafael Bejarano took Coa's place and returned to the track to begin the loading process. After nine of the 10 horses in the race had been loaded into the starting gate, McKee was thrown from Tricky Storm.
