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Jockey Vince Halliday Able To Walk With Assistance, Exits Intensive Care For Rehab

Jockey Vince Halliday, who suffered serious injuries in a race spill at Delaware Park in July, is set to leave intensive care and move to a rehabilitation unit.

Belfast-born Halliday suffered two brain bleeds, fractures to his back, neck, shoulder and elbow, and spent two weeks on a ventilator as he was unable to breathe on his own.

The jockey, who moved to the US in 2008 after riding for nearly 20 years in Britain and Ireland, has spent the last four weeks at the Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware.

In an update on his condition, his wife Stephanie Pastore reported Halliday was off the ventilator, able to walk with assistance but still weak.

“Vince spent two weeks in the ICU and then as soon as he got off the ventilator he moved to the trauma step down unit,” she said.

“He was steadily progressing apart from being able to swallow so he had a stomach feed tube inserted last week. However he had some complications due to the new stomach tube and ended up back in ICU for two days.

“He came back to trauma step down this past Sunday and has kept progressing so today he is being discharged from the hospital and is moving on to acute rehab where they will work on his swallowing as well as general physical therapy.

“He is able to walk with assistance, but is just weak. So the next chapter of his recovery begins. He should be in rehab for seven to ten days.“

Halliday served his apprenticeship with Kevin Prendergast in Ireland, moving to England after two seasons. Over 17 seasons based in the north he rode 51 winners, mostly in the north of England for trainers including David Barron, Richard Whitaker, Karl Burke, Declan Carroll, Brian Ellison and Michael Dods.

Since moving to the US in 2008 where he works as a jockey and exercise rider. he has ridden 45 winners from 1,111 rides which have earned $1.2 million in prize-money. He has had two successes in 2021.

The GoFundMe page s set up for Halliday to help pay his medical bills have so far raised more than $40,000.

This story was reprinted with permission by Horse Racing Planet. Find the original piece and more content here.

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James Graham Voted Jockey Of The Week After Mr. D. Stakes Upset

Jockey James Graham made a successful return to Arlington Park last Saturday, winning the Grade 1 Mr. D. Stakes to earn Jockey of the Week honors for Aug. 9 through Aug. 15. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Arlington Park had been home to Graham, a native of Dublin, Ireland, for more than a dozen years before moving his tack to Kentucky tracks and Fair Grounds in Louisiana. He returned on Saturday for the first time since 2018 to ride on what may be Arlington Park's last premier day of racing. Trainer Hugh Robertson, a mainstay at Arlington Park for decades and very familiar with Graham, entered long-shot Two Emmys in the G1 Mr. D. Stakes and gave simple instructions to Graham, “Go to the front and slow it down.”

Graham followed those instructions faithfully.

Breaking from post position four in the field of eight, Graham and Two Emmys went straight to the front and controlled the pace around the first turn and down the backstretch with his half-mile in a pedestrian 52.43 seconds. In upper stretch, Graham asked Two Emmys for his best and held on when confronted late by the favorite Domestic Spending and Flavien Prat to win by a neck in 2:03.34 for the mile and one-quarter turf race.

“When I didn't see anyone behind me at the quarter pole, I knew they would really have to run to catch me,” said Graham. “He's shown he can do it before and he did it today.”

With the win, Graham posted his fifth career G1 win.

Weekly statistics for Graham were 15-2-2-2 for an in-the-money rate of 40 percent and total purses of $407,668.

Other nominees for Jockey of the Week were Alex Birzer with an in-the-money rate of 55 percent, Tyler Gaffalione who won the G1 Fourstardave, Antonio Gallardo with nine wins for the week, and John Velazquez who won two stakes races at Saratoga.

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‘Still Doesn’t Feel Like It’s Real’: Bowen Riding High After Longacres Mile Win

The morning after the biggest victory of his riding career, jockey Rocco Bowen was still on an emotional high.

“It still doesn't feel like it's real,” Bowen said. “This is home for me. Being back at Emerald Downs and riding for guys like Alan Bozell and Tom Wenzel, seeing Sally (Steiner) in the kitchen, getting a big cheer from fans in the jockey introductions. And then winning the (Longacres) Mile, it's unbelievable.”

The only jockey to win three straight riding titles at Emerald Downs, Bowen rode three winners in his first appearance here since 2018. The biggest victory, of course, was a desperate head triumph aboard 2 to 1 favorite Background in the 86th running of the $100,000 Longacres Mile (G3).

Showing resilience and tenacity in a grueling stretch run, Background nailed long shot Windribbon in the final jump, completing the mile in 1:36.67.

With the victory, Bowen, a 32-year-old native of Barbados, became the first black jockey to win the Longacres Mile. It also was his first graded stakes victory.

While the post-race winner's circle scene with trainer Mike Puhich, owners Bob and Molly Rondeau and a tearful Bowen was exuberant, the rider said he spent a quiet Sunday evening dining at Applebee's. Rocco plans to trail-ride around Enumclaw with friends the next couple days before returning to Chicago to finish out Arlington Park and ride the first two weeks at Hawthorne. After that comes vacation with family in Barbados and then back to Oaklawn Park for that track's earliest ever opening Dec. 3.

Background, meanwhile, was relaxing at Pegasus Training and Rehabilitation Center in Redmond, where he was about to enjoy a salt-water spa.

“We'll give him a little break at Pegasus,” Puhich said. “(Background) hasn't had an easy race all year, so he deserves a little time off. We'll get him ready for the same program next year, starting off at Oaklawn Park.”

A 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding by Khozan, Background is 3-2-1 in seven starts this year with earnings of $208,536. With Bowen riding, Background won two rich allowance races at Oaklawn Park ($106,000 and $88,000) and the $100,000 Longacres Mile. Background has an overall mark of 4-2-4 in 14 starts with earnings of $287,532.

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Charles Town Jockeys Refused To Ride Over Ongoing ‘Inconsistencies And Issues’ With Paychecks

The following statement was issued by The Jockeys' Guild on Monday, following the cancellation of races on Saturday, Aug. 14 at Charles Town Races in West Virginia:

“The decision by the jockeys at Charles Town to refuse to ride on Saturday, Aug. 14 was made with just cause and only after many discussions with management concerning timely payment for jockey's mounts. Receipt of payment in a timely fashion has been a problem on and off for several years at Charles Town and Saturday was not the first time the jockeys have considered refusing to ride over the issue.

“Representatives of the Jockey's Guild and members of the Charles Town jockey colony have had discussions with management and stewards several times in hopes of getting a permanent resolution. Concerns include, but are not limited to, changes to the day of the week the jockeys may get paid without notifying the jockeys and there have been instances when checks have been issued, jockeys were advised that there are insufficient funds in the account to cover the paychecks.

“Most jockeys live paycheck to paycheck and they felt they had no other recourse but to bring attention again to this on-going situation. The inconsistencies and issues of receiving payments consistently occurs nowhere else in the country, including at Mountaineer racetrack, which is also in West Virginia. Everyone can relate to doing a job and being paid in a timely manner. Jockeys are no exception. The jockeys at Charles Town put themselves in harm's way in each and every race and to not be paid in a timely manner is simply unacceptable.

“This is an issue that the management and stewards at Charles Town need to resolve immediately.”

Charles Town's vice president of racing operations Erich Zimny told the Paulick Report on Saturday that the issues, which resulted in the cancellation of races when jockeys refused to ride, revolved around delayed payments into the jockeys' account.

“We've tried damn hard to make racing, including all of the administrative functions involved, as normal as possible despite the situation we're all still in being far from normal.” Zimny said. “There was a temporary delay in money getting transferred for jockeys' checks into the normal account. The riders were told they could instead cash their checks at the casino cage and there would be no issue. Apparently, the delay was enough to choose not to ride and create a negative impact for everyone.”

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