Is Jamie Theriot done for good? What is the outcome ?

[JustRalph]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/50948/theriot-suspended-for-douglas-accident


I think Jamie better get a good lawyer and try like hell to fight this suspension.

If not......he will be riding for the Douglas family the rest of his life. That's if he gets anymore rides.

I haven't seen the race.......... anybody see the video posted anywhere?

[Relwob Owner]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/50948/theriot-suspended-for-douglas-accident


I think Jamie better get a good lawyer and try like hell to fight this suspension.

If not......he will be riding for the Douglas family the rest of his life. That's if he gets anymore rides.

I haven't seen the race.......... anybody see the video posted anywhere?


I saw it on YouBet....looked like he did come out into Douglass pretty good. I dont know if there is legal precedent for causing a spill-whatever the penalty, he will be living with this inside his own head for the rest of his life-what an awful situation.

[onefast99]

I am sure there are plenty of lawyers that would take a case on like this one but the outcome may be more painful then the spill itself. Could you imagine a jury finding JT guilty and how that would impact this sport?

[FenceBored]

Here's the video from CDI's YouTube channel.


MxeSH5cNXvE

Turning for home (about 1:37 into the clip for context).

[andymays]

Theriot did something that is done several times a day every day. He was wrong in what he did but this type of thing is done without major incident 99.99 percent of the time.

This guy is going to have to live with the consequences of his ride and that is a tough thing for anyone with a conscience to do.

Tony Farina, who I think is the Jock that knocked Pincay out of racing has that to live with, and I'm sure it has affected his life as well. The incident in Pincay's case was not this severe although it came close and that is why he stopped riding.

The two situations are different though in that if Douglas is permanently paralyzed it becomes a lot harder to live with for everyone involved.

I feel sorry for Theriot but much more sorry for Douglas and his family.

[matthewsiv]

Theriot did something that is done several times a day every day. He was wrong in what he did but this type of thing is done without major incident 99.99 percent of the time.

This guy is going to have to live with the consequences of his ride and that is a tough thing for anyone with a conscience to do.

Tony Farina, who I think is the Jock that knocked Pincay out of racing has that to live with, and I'm sure it has affected his life as well. The incident in Pincay's case was not this severe although it came close and that is why he stopped riding.

The two situations are different though in that if Douglas is permanently paralyzed it becomes a lot harder to live with for everyone involved.

I feel sorry for Theriot but much more sorry for Douglas and his family.

Well said.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Douglas family.

Rene has ridden for me in the past and is a good guy.

[Grits]

Ray Paulick has written an opinion piece this morning regarding the incident. He makes some excellent points. Stewards need to be paying closer attention and riders may need to give a second thought to forcing an opening.

Theriot rode, and won races, at Churchill on Sunday and Monday. In Sunday's 10th and final race, he was unseated by his mount at the 16th pole.

I would imagine it, mighty difficult, to be him, right now.

It is being done each day without incident, still, a rider knows there's a difference in seeing an opening, and creating an opening where one doesn't exist.

The line between racing and reckless is a fine one.

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/when-it-comes-to-douglas-racing-stewards-share-the-blame/

[Relwob Owner]

Theriot did something that is done several times a day every day. He was wrong in what he did but this type of thing is done without major incident 99.99 percent of the time.

This guy is going to have to live with the consequences of his ride and that is a tough thing for anyone with a conscience to do.

Tony Farina, who I think is the Jock that knocked Pincay out of racing has that to live with, and I'm sure it has affected his life as well. The incident in Pincay's case was not this severe although it came close and that is why he stopped riding.

The two situations are different though in that if Douglas is permanently paralyzed it becomes a lot harder to live with for everyone involved.

I feel sorry for Theriot but much more sorry for Douglas and his family.



very well put Andy

[David-LV]

I feel sorry for Theriot but much more sorry for Douglas and his family.

There is no place in the sport for this kind of riding, if Douglas never rides again there should be no less punishment for Theriot.

30 days, that is a complete joke.

This was no accident by chance.

Let's all say a pray to St Jude, The Saint of the impossible for Rene.

Pray does work.

________
David-LV

[onefast99]

Here's the video from CDI's YouTube channel.


MxeSH5cNXvE

Turning for home (about 1:37 into the clip for context).
Douglas rode Approved By Dylan for us at the GP meet 3 years ago. A perfect ride on the front end by a very good rider. My prayers go out for him and his family.

[andymays]

Ray Paulick has written an opinion piece this morning regarding the incident. He makes some excellent points. Stewards need to be paying closer attention and riders may need to give a second thought to forcing an opening.

Theriot rode, and won races, at Churchill on Sunday and Monday. In Sunday's 10th and final race, he was unseated by his mount at the 16th pole.

I would imagine it, mighty difficult, to be him, right now.

It is being done each day without incident, still, a rider knows there's a difference in seeing an opening, and creating an opening where one doesn't exist.

The line between racing and reckless is a fine one.

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/when-it-comes-to-douglas-racing-stewards-share-the-blame/


One of the unintended consequences of something like this is that the Stewards start disqualifying the Horses we bet on for an agressive ride by the Jockey.

Racing Horses and betting on the outcome of those races can have negative consequences for all involved.

Unfortunately it is a dangerous and sometimes fatal profession for the Jockeys.

How many Horseplayers and their families are ruined from gambling?

My point is that we can make it as safe as possible to a reasonable standard and then there comes a point when we ask "it is better not to race at all"?

Racing Horses and betting on the outcome of those races is what it is!

[Bruddah]

If I were on a jury and you wanted me to find a jockey guilty of anything based on the above video, it would be a cold day in he!! As terrible as was the outcome, it seems to be the risk of race riding and career choice.

You would need a jury of 12 jockeys. In other words a jury of unbiased Peers.

[Quagmire]

Terrible situation. I'll be making a donation to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund on behalf of HANA and urge those who can to do so as well.

[Cat Thief]

I am sure he is really very sad over this. Probably things like this have happened before and nothing was serious so he grew complacent. A very sad situation.

[Marshall Bennett]

Thats the first I've seen of the spill . As mentioned earlier , this move is made routinely , there was nothing malicious about it , and in my opinion the suspension complimented the severity of Rene's injuries . Garrett Gomez has made a career making such moves . Though my thoughts and prayers are with Rene , the penalty here was out of order .

[Hajck Hillstrom]

Thats the first I've seen of the spill . As mentioned earlier , this move is made routinely , there was nothing malicious about it , and in my opinion the suspension complimented the severity of Rene's injuries . Garrett Gomez has made a career making such moves . Though my thoughts and prayers are with Rene , the penalty here was out of order .No malice in Theriot's move there. It is a dangerous sport, and the courage that jocks display is understood that it might also be their ultimate undoing. My heart goes out to Rene Douglas and his family, but every jock understands the inherent danger in their chosen profession. Jamie Theriot is not at fault here, the nature of the sport is.

[slew101]

The other question, is if Rene walked away after the horse went down, what would the suspension be? I doubt 30 days.

As many of us has said, that move is made every day by jockeys, likely even Rene Douglas many times. Someone mentioned Gomez. Check out his ride on Colonel John in the Travers last year. It was amazing there was no spill and no inquiry.

Theriot's career was just beginning to take off, so hopefully he can live with this accident.

I recall an apprentice caused a big spill at Saratoga years ago that almost killed Mike Smith. Smith was very gracious to him after the fact, in a back brace in the hospital no less.

[Shelby]

I can't imagine how Jamie feels.........I should have included him in my prayers earlier.
:(

[slewis]

If I were on a jury and you wanted me to find a jockey guilty of anything based on the above video, it would be a cold day in he!! As terrible as was the outcome, it seems to be the risk of race riding and career choice.

You would need a jury of 12 jockeys. In other words a jury of unbiased Peers.


Good point:ThmbUp:

Nothing terribly wrong there.

[slewis]

The other question, is if Rene walked away after the horse went down, what would the suspension be? I doubt 30 days.

As many of us has said, that move is made every day by jockeys, likely even Rene Douglas many times. Someone mentioned Gomez. Check out his ride on Colonel John in the Travers last year. It was amazing there was no spill and no inquiry.

Theriot's career was just beginning to take off, so hopefully he can live with this accident.

I recall an apprentice caused a big spill at Saratoga years ago that almost killed Mike Smith. Smith was very gracious to him after the fact, in a back brace in the hospital no less.

I've got a better Gomez stunt... Watch the head on in this year's Kentucky Derby....

He knows the horse is getting out but has no problem hitting feverishly left handed..

The stewards around the country are more to blame than the jocks.... they could stop it.... (I know I could stop it)... just keep results and fine the jocks 4 times what they made on the mount plus 30 day suspensions....that would put an end to the stupid aggressive riding...

[Run Nicholas Run]

The other question, is if Rene walked away after the horse went down, what would the suspension be? I doubt 30 days.

As many of us has said, that move is made every day by jockeys, likely even Rene Douglas many times. Someone mentioned Gomez. Check out his ride on Colonel John in the Travers last year. It was amazing there was no spill and no inquiry.

Theriot's career was just beginning to take off, so hopefully he can live with this accident.

I recall an apprentice caused a big spill at Saratoga years ago that almost killed Mike Smith. Smith was very gracious to him after the fact, in a back brace in the hospital no less.

The rider that caused the spill with Smitty
was a spank named Edwin Cotto, not sure if it was the
same Edwin Cotto who rode in NY years earlier.

Also Jeffrey Fell caused the spill that ended Ron Turcotte's
career at belmont in '78 and dont recall Fell being suspended.

[Relwob Owner]

I've got a better Gomez stunt... Watch the head on in this year's Kentucky Derby....

He knows the horse is getting out but has no problem hitting feverishly left handed..

The stewards around the country are more to blame than the jocks.... they could stop it.... (I know I could stop it)... just keep results and fine the jocks 4 times what they made on the mount plus 30 day suspensions....that would put an end to the stupid aggressive riding...


Good point-seems like the biggest thing that is lacking in this sport and its "rules" is enforcement

[Irish Boy]

No chance any civil liability arises from this. The exact same scenario played out when Ron Turcotte was injured by Jeff Fell at Belmont, and it was held no liability unless the move was malicious. Just being outside the rules isn't enough if the actions are within the range of foreseeable events when you're a professional jockey.

[Imriledup]

The polytrack was a player in causing this injury. Look at the field of horses right before the fall.........there was only 2 or 3 lengths seperating 8 or 9 horses. They were packed together like sardines, like it was a turf race. There wasn't a speck of room for anyone to maneuver. In real dirt races, the spray from the dirt flies up and there is some seperation. Polytrack plays like turf, these horses were packed really tight together. You don't even see this stuff too much on Cushion track, but on Poly, they are so tightly bunched, this stuff doesnt' happen too often on real dirt.

[fmolf]

looks to me almost like douglas was going to go thru the same hole before theriot beat him to it by then it was too late for douglas to check before he clipped heels... centrifugal force wasworking for theriot and he pushed douglas out of the way and into the other horses who were slowing...unfortunate accident but these situations arise in every race every day at every track....my prayers are with two good guys and two good jockeys and their families...

[Marshall Bennett]

The polytrack was a player in causing this injury. Look at the field of horses right before the fall.........there was only 2 or 3 lengths seperating 8 or 9 horses. They were packed together like sardines, like it was a turf race. There wasn't a speck of room for anyone to maneuver. In real dirt races, the spray from the dirt flies up and there is some seperation. Polytrack plays like turf, these horses were packed really tight together. You don't even see this stuff too much on Cushion track, but on Poly, they are so tightly bunched, this stuff doesnt' happen too often on real dirt.
Damn those plate restrictors .

[Bettowin]

Damn those plate restrictors .


Watch out. The local compassion police are coming:)

[fmolf]

Good point-seems like the biggest thing that is lacking in this sport and its "rules" is enforcement
i agree if the stewards would start taking horses down and suspending jocks with stiffer fines attached rough aggressive riding tactics would be less of an issue...it is very hard to constitute what is aggressive riding and what is trying to do the best for your connections and the betting public!a lot of times if a jock does not make the aggressive move we start a thread and criticize him for it..just paling devils advocate here and looking at it from another angle!

[jballscalls]

i guess my question is, what would the penalty be if the exact same move and result occurs, but Douglas simply has some bumps and bruises??

[Valuist]

Thats the first I've seen of the spill . As mentioned earlier , this move is made routinely , there was nothing malicious about it , and in my opinion the suspension complimented the severity of Rene's injuries . Garrett Gomez has made a career making such moves . Though my thoughts and prayers are with Rene , the penalty here was out of order .

First off, if Douglas hadn't gone down and Theriot's horse goes on to win, he would've likely been DQ'd. 30 days may seem like a lot but one must consider the consequences. They may be making an example of him, but in this case, it is justified.

[SaratogaSteve]

I gotta tell ya, watching the days of Cordero, Velasquez, Vasquez, Gruguet, etc., that didn't look terribly aggressive. I saw much rougher riding during the IDT meet at the Big A. Such a horrible outcome...

[Lefty]

Jockeys have to make judgements in hundredths if not thousandths of seconds. Rene was terribly unfortunate and my prayers are with him, but it just as easily could have been Theriot.

[strapper]

This was a horrible outcome for sure but jockeys today are not as aggressive as they were in the days of old before video cameras. Perhaps riders get a little more in to taking chances when in stakes competition but far more often than not I see jockeys opening the fence and riding way too politely in my opinion. True race riders do not give up their position to allow a horse to pass them. I feel bad for Rene and his family and pray that this great jockey will mount a miraculous recovery; I also feel for Jamie - his career has been ascending and he still is destined to be a star in this sport. It's a hard profession even if nothing like this happens. You always have to live with the potential for injury and death. Riding racehorses is definitely not for the faint of heart. You can get yourself in some precarious positions in a race with no fault of your own. When you are boxed in and trapped with no way out you are at the mercy of your fellow jocks and can only pray that no one makes a false move.

[menifee]

The polytrack was a player in causing this injury. Look at the field of horses right before the fall.........there was only 2 or 3 lengths seperating 8 or 9 horses. They were packed together like sardines, like it was a turf race. There wasn't a speck of room for anyone to maneuver. In real dirt races, the spray from the dirt flies up and there is some seperation. Polytrack plays like turf, these horses were packed really tight together. You don't even see this stuff too much on Cushion track, but on Poly, they are so tightly bunched, this stuff doesnt' happen too often on real dirt.

Great point. This is exactly the case. The Arlington poly has not been changed since day 1. The horses run slow fractions and then it becomes a quick sprint to the finish. You will have situations like this when you have that many horses in such a small space.

Theriot's move was not overly aggressive. That move happens every day at every track. Rene Douglas has made that same move as I have seen him be as aggressive in other situations. I think the Arlington track officals should look at their track and how races are run on poly before they blame Theriot.

[Imriledup]

Great point. This is exactly the case. The Arlington poly has not been changed since day 1. The horses run slow fractions and then it becomes a quick sprint to the finish. You will have situations like this when you have that many horses in such a small space.

Theriot's move was not overly aggressive. That move happens every day at every track. Rene Douglas has made that same move as I have seen him be as aggressive in other situations. I think the Arlington track officals should look at their track and how races are run on poly before they blame Theriot.

I'm not saying JT3 is completely blameless, but i think at least a speck of this had to do with the way races are run at this place and how riders ride that track. Polytrack is supposed to be safer for riders and horses, but if the lack of kickback and the closing nature of that track is making the races really bunch up, well, maybe its not so safe after all. It might be softer on bones and we'll have less catastrophic breakdowns of cannon bones, but if they are going to ride really tight like that coming into the stretch, well, someone has to really revisit this so something like this doesnt' happen in the future. Btw, thanks for the compliment.

[rastajenk]

But the races on poly don't have to be run that way, do they? It's jocks' room groupthink at play, not the surface under their feet.

[andymays]

On most plastic surfaces the field do tend to bunch up in the stretch.

Hollywood park seems to be the lone exception as that one has turned into a dirt surface (a good thing).

[westny]

Second time for Theriot.

Jockey John Velazquez was involved in a collision at Keeneland that put him in the hospital. (AP Image)

Jockey John Velazquez, who was onboard Tap Dancing in yesterday's Seventh Race at Keeneland was hospitalized after a collision with Whacka Whacka and jockey Jamie Theriot.

The accident occurred in the early stretch of the 6.5 furlong race which was the Maiden Special Weight race on Friday October 3, 2008.

The accident started when Theriot and Whacka Whacka clipped hooves with Rapid Mon. Unfortunately for Tap Dancing and Velazquez, the collision with Whacka Whacka that followed was unavoidable. Both jockeys hit the track and laid there for several minutes. Luckily for Theriot he was able to walk to the First Aid room, however, the motionless Velazquez was taken by ambulance to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. The veterinarians at the track reported neither horse was seriously injured in the collision.

Velazquez is currently recuperating in the Lexington hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

[FenceBored]

Jamie Theriot drops his appeal.
After losing another attempt in Cook County, Ill., circuit court Tuesday to get a stay of a 30-day suspension, Churchill Downs-based jockey Jamie Theriot has decided to drop his appeal of the ban, his agent, Fred Aime, said Thursday morning.

-- http://www.drf.com/news/article/104378.html


.

[Rocklane]

When a jock gets suspended in one jurisdiction, does that mean he/she is suspended everywhere?

[Steve 'StatMan']

When a jock gets suspended in one jurisdiction, does that mean he/she is suspended everywhere?

Usually. There may be some rare circumstances, but generally state racing jurisdictions have reciprocal agreements with each other.