LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Jockey John Velazquez was transported to Audubon Hospital after injuring a shoulder Saturday in a spill in the ninth race at Churchill Downs.
A week after riding Union Rags to victory in the Belmont Stakes, the 40-year-old Velazquez was taken from the track on a stretcher. He complained about shoulder pain, but had full mobility, track spokesman Darren Rogers said.
Velazquez’s mount, Mr. Producer, broke down near the sixteenth pole, falling to the inside and taking out Smart Farda and jockey Manoel Cruz. Velazquez was thrown forward and then kicked while on the ground by the trailing Lemansky, causing jockey John McKee to also be thrown.
Cruz and McKee walked off the track, but McKee took off his final mount of the night.
