DEL MAR, Calif. (KGTV) — The Del Mar Racetrack says a jockey was injured during a Sunday afternoon race when the horse he was riding fell over.
"I mean the horse came out of the shoot pretty fast," said George Cohen, who was in the stands on Sunday.
According to a tweet from the racetrack, horse number five, Get the Gold, fell during the fourth race of the day, which had a post time of 3:38 p.m. The track's gate crew immediately caught the horse, which was able to walk off on its own power.
"I could see the horses coming around and we were like, are they going to get him out of the way before they actually get around the track? That was the thing that we were wondering," said Jeremy Ross, who was also in attendance.
The jockey, Abel Cedillo, was taken into an ambulance on a stretcher, a video sent to ABC 10News showed.
The track says Cedillo was under further medical evaluation at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla. He was experiencing neck pain, and the last the track heard, doctors were getting a series of x-rays on his neck, according to a track spokesperson.
It's unclear what his condition is at this point. The spokesperson says the horse is OK.
According to the track's website, the purse for that race was $82,000. Cowboy Mike, trained by Bob Baffert, was the horse that took first place. Don't Fight the Fed placed second, while Ship and Scam came in third.
The winning time for the one-mile race was 1:37.81.
In Race 4, #5 Get the Gold fell, was immediately caught by the gate crew, and walked off the track under his own power.
— Del Mar Racetrack (@DelMarRacing) July 23, 2023
Jockey Abel Cedillo is currently under further evaluation.
This is a developing story.
