Jockey Wilmer Garcia fractured his C-4 and C-5 vertebrae in an incident on Sunday at Prairie Meadows Racetrack in Altoona, Iowa, reports the Daily Racing Form. The multiple graded stakes-winning rider will require two surgeries to repair the fractures.
Garcia was injured in Sunday's eighth race, unseated when his mount Sweet Holiness stumbled at the start, bumped another rival and clipped heels. According to the Equibase chart, the horse walked off the track under her own power.
Becky Esch, Garcia's agent, told DRF the rider is expected to make a full recovery, but will miss the remainder of the meet at Prairie Meadows. Garcia has posted 47 winners at the current meet, just one behind leading rider Kylee Jordan in the current standings.
“The surgeon said he's done this plenty of times before – did it for another jockey,” Esch told DRF. “They expect 100 percent recovery, but the recovery is just going to take a while.”
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
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