Jockey Rocco Bowen is expected to miss six weeks after he was injured during an incident in the starting gate before Saturday's eighth race at Oaklawn Park, his agent, Gene Short of Hot Springs, said in a text message Sunday morning. His mount, maiden Paid Double, was scratched at the gate after rearing and flipping over, pinning Bowen against the gate. According to the Daily Racing Form, Bowen's pelvis was fractured in five places.
Bowen, who has seven victories at the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting, was hospitalized at nearby CHI St. Vincent following the accident, Short said. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with expenses.
Bowen, born in Barbados, cut his teeth in Canada but became a riding star in the Pacific Northwest. He became the first Bajan jockey to win a riding title in the United States at the 2015-2016 Portland Meadows meeting and was champion jockey three consecutive years (2016, 2017 and 2018) at Emerald Downs in suburban Seattle before a debilitating arm injury in September 2018 cost him approximately 1 ½ years in the saddle.
Bowen resumed riding June 4, 2020 at Belterra Park and a week later became the first Bajan jockey to win a race Churchill Downs (White Wolf for trainer Paul Holthus of Hot Springs). On Nov. 11, 2020, Bowen earned his 1,000th win as a jockey at Indiana Grand, and in 2021, his best year by earnings, Bowen earned his first graded stakes win in Emerald's G3 Longacres Mile.
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