JOCKEY JORGE URDANETA AT MEASE COUNTRYSIDE HOSPITAL AFTER SPIL

By Mike Henry —-

JOCKEY JORGE URDANETA AT MEASE COUNTRYSIDE AFTER SPILL

OLDSMAR, FL. – Today’s sixth race was declared a “no-contest” after 3-year-old filly Crystaleigh stumbled and fell shortly after the start, throwing jockey Jorge Urdaneta to the turf.

Urdaneta, a 37-year-old rider from Venezuela, was transported from the racetrack to Mease Countryside Hospital in nearby Safety Harbor and remained under observation at press time.

As the rest of the field in the sixth race turned for home approaching the stretch, a siren sounded, warning lights flashed and the track announcer instructed riders to pull up their mounts to avoid Urdaneta, who already was being attended to by emergency medical technicians while in the path of the field.

All wagers on or beginning with the sixth race were refunded, with the exception of the late Pick-5, in which the sixth-race winner was declared to be “all” for wagering purposes.

The sixth-race winner was also declared to be “all” for the Pick-3s beginning with the fourth and fifth races, while Pick-3 wagers on the sixth-through-eighth races were refunded. The Pick-4 beginning with the third race paid out based on “all” winning the sixth race.

The daily double on the fifth and sixth races also paid out based on “all” winning the sixth race.

Crystaleigh, a Florida-bred owned and trained by Martin Paramo, returned to her barn and appeared unhurt after the race.

Around the oval. Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:30 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs currently races on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with the exception of Easter Sunday, April 21, when the track is closed.

Otherwise, Tampa Bay Downs is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.