Jockey Jose Flores, a winner of 4,650 races, was in a coma at Aria Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia on Monday night after going down in a spill during the ninth race at Parx Racing that afternoon. Flores was listed in critical but stable condition.
Flores, 56, was dueling for the lead between horses on Love Rules on the far turn of the six-furlong starter allowance when his mount broke down and fell. A trailing horse, The Pooch, fell over Love Rules and might have struck Flores. A third horse, Easy River, unseated his rider while avoiding the two fallen horses.
Flores had not regained consciousness as of 9 p.m. Monday, according to his agent, David Yannuzzi, and had to be revived by the emergency room staff after his heart stopped.
"It's touch and go," said Yannuzzi, who has represented Flores for 14 years.
Flores was the dominant rider at Penn National in the 1990s, winning riding titles in 1998, 1997, 1996, and 1994. He finished second in 1995, third in 1993, and has 2,215 victories at Penn National.
On the advice of trainer Scott Lake, he relocated to Parx, then named Philadelphia Park, in 1999. He was the leading rider at Parx in 2004 with 168 wins and was inducted into the track's Hall of Fame in 2013. Flores, a native of Peru, has 2,255 wins at Parx.
Flores has ridden 1,203 of Lake's 5,894 career winners.
"He's a great, good-hearted guy," Yannuzzi said. "He's overcome major spills the last few years, but he loves riding. He never turns down anyone. He rides all of their horses."
The lone graded stakes win of Flores's career came aboard Loaded Gun in the Grade 3, $200,000 Philadelphia Park Breeders' Cup in 1999. Flores won two other stakes on Loaded Gun that year.
Flores's more recent stakes winners include Favorite Tale, with whom he won the 2014 Gold Fever at Belmont Park in 2014; Eighth Wonder, who he won three Parx stakes with in 2015 and 2016; and Discreet Lover, with whom he won the Swatara at Penn National last November.
Flores has a wife, Joanne, and three children, Juan, Junior, and Julian.
Ruben Silvera, the rider of The Pooch in Monday's accident, reportedly was unhurt. Carol Cedeno, the rider of Easy River, had neck pain and was waiting for X-ray results at the hospital Monday night.
Flores's mount, Love Rules, was euthanized; The Pooch was vanned from the track; and Easy River ran off after unseating Cedeno and was caught by track outriders.
Flores, 56, was dueling for the lead between horses on Love Rules on the far turn of the six-furlong starter allowance when his mount broke down and fell. A trailing horse, The Pooch, fell over Love Rules and might have struck Flores. A third horse, Easy River, unseated his rider while avoiding the two fallen horses.
Flores had not regained consciousness as of 9 p.m. Monday, according to his agent, David Yannuzzi, and had to be revived by the emergency room staff after his heart stopped.
"It's touch and go," said Yannuzzi, who has represented Flores for 14 years.
Flores was the dominant rider at Penn National in the 1990s, winning riding titles in 1998, 1997, 1996, and 1994. He finished second in 1995, third in 1993, and has 2,215 victories at Penn National.
On the advice of trainer Scott Lake, he relocated to Parx, then named Philadelphia Park, in 1999. He was the leading rider at Parx in 2004 with 168 wins and was inducted into the track's Hall of Fame in 2013. Flores, a native of Peru, has 2,255 wins at Parx.
Flores has ridden 1,203 of Lake's 5,894 career winners.
"He's a great, good-hearted guy," Yannuzzi said. "He's overcome major spills the last few years, but he loves riding. He never turns down anyone. He rides all of their horses."
The lone graded stakes win of Flores's career came aboard Loaded Gun in the Grade 3, $200,000 Philadelphia Park Breeders' Cup in 1999. Flores won two other stakes on Loaded Gun that year.
Flores's more recent stakes winners include Favorite Tale, with whom he won the 2014 Gold Fever at Belmont Park in 2014; Eighth Wonder, who he won three Parx stakes with in 2015 and 2016; and Discreet Lover, with whom he won the Swatara at Penn National last November.
Flores has a wife, Joanne, and three children, Juan, Junior, and Julian.
Ruben Silvera, the rider of The Pooch in Monday's accident, reportedly was unhurt. Carol Cedeno, the rider of Easy River, had neck pain and was waiting for X-ray results at the hospital Monday night.
Flores's mount, Love Rules, was euthanized; The Pooch was vanned from the track; and Easy River ran off after unseating Cedeno and was caught by track outriders.
