Jockey Manny Jimenez' cool head under pressure helped to avoid a major incident at Tampa Bay Downs on Friday, Feb. 24, when an alligator made its way onto the track mid-race.
Aboard Papa Jimmy, Jimenez was forced to take evasive action when he spotted the alligator about 20 seconds into the 1 1/16-mile race. According to The Mirror, Jimenez said the alligator was crossing from a pond by the seven-furlong chute to the infield pond, with its head facing the inside rail.
“By the time I see the gator we were pretty close to each other and his head was looking at us in the path my horse is running,” Jimenez told The Mirror. “I knew right away that I was not going to be able to make it around the gator and I didn't want to run the risk of leaving it easy to the gator to bite my horse.
“So I just took my horse wider by the hind body and the tail of the gator, and put him straight so he can see the gator. Horses are smart enough that they know how to avoid problems and if he sees where he is stepping, he is going to step hard on the ground and I knew he would not step on the gator.
“So I prayed to God, trusted my horse and we made it to the other side. We won the race of life in that race.”
The Equibase chart explains that Jimenez and Papa Jimmy went wide around the gator and eventually finished fourth in the race. Trailing horses Mapache G and Macho Real may also have been forced to avoid the alligator's presence on the track, but the camera angles do not allow that to be seen in the race replay.
Read more at The Mirror, and check out the video clip below:
From video it looks a trailing horse hit the alligator. pic.twitter.com/eY1nz9nLuC
— Ray Paulick (@raypaulick) February 25, 2023
The post ‘We Won The Race Of Life In That Race’: Manny Jimenez Avoids Incident With Alligator On Track At Tampa appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
