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Post by racinggal on Jul 24, 2015 21:18:37 GMT -5
This is terrible. Caitlin told me about her and I won quite a bit playing her from time to time. Please keep her in your prayers.
Jockey Oriana Rossi Undergoes Surgery
Blood Horse
Jockey Oriana Rossi had surgery July 23 after sustaining fractures to her back and neck in a spill at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino July 22, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported.
Rossi's injuries were described as "catastrophic." She underwent surgery at Indiana University Healthcare Methodist in Indianapolis to stabilize and determine the extent of the injuries.
Jockey agent and close friend Bones Wirth, who doesn't represent Rossi but was at the hospital along with several other agents, said Rossi was able to move her arms but appeared to be paralyzed from the chest down.
"It doesn't look good," Wirth told the Courier-Journal. "Keep our fingers crossed, but they say she's got 5% chance of not being paralyzed. ... She's got multiple, multiple breaks in her back. The T-6 is the main one. Hopefully there's a clot behind the T-6 vertebra and if they can get that removed, it might help."
Rossi, aboard 5-year-old gelding Top Priority in the fifth race at Indiana Grand Wednesday, was involved in a two-horse spill in the starter allowance contest.
Jockey Alex Contreras, riding Divine Thunder, was unseated when his mount clipped heels, and Top Priority fell over the fallen horse, unseating Rossi. Jockey Francisco Torres was also injured when his mount, My Prize Now,collided with the fallen Divine Thunder but did not go down.
All three were transported to Major Hospital in Shelbyville, Ind. Contreras sustained fractures in his back and had surgery but has been released from the hospital. Torres was also released.
According to a July 24 news release from Indiana Grand, all three horses involved "were not injured and returned to their stables."
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cait
Active Member
Posts: 3,821 
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Post by cait on Jul 25, 2015 12:12:28 GMT -5
this is devastating and brings back the reality that jockeys are at risk every time they mount a horse - oriana may never be a star but she can ride - a lot like forest boyce - the drf account is more hopeful - and yes - prayers are good
Rossi has spinal surgery; doctors ‘cautiously optimistic’
By Marty McGee
DRF
Jockey Oriana Rossi underwent seven hours of what was termed successful spinal surgery Thursday at Indiana University Healthcare Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis in the aftermath of a Wednesday spill at Indiana Grand, which also led to less serious injuries to two other jockeys.
Trainer Tim Glyshaw, among Rossi’s many friends staying closely apprised of the situation, said Friday that doctors were “cautiously optimistic” that Rossi would be able to walk again after suffering fractures in her upper and lower back. She has been unable to move her lower extremities but was able to move her arms, said Glyshaw.
“Oriana’s doctor said the spinal cord was not severed,” said Glyshaw, whose stable is split between Indiana Grand in suburban Indianapolis and Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. “Obviously he wants to see how she is in the coming days, and she has lots and lots of rehab ahead of her. He said it is too early for a full prognosis, but generally when the spinal cord remains intact there is hope.”
IU Methodist is widely recognized as a regional leader in the care of spinal injuries.
Rossi, 32, was born and raised in England and began riding races in the United States in 2009. She has ridden mostly at Indiana and Kentucky tracks and at Tampa Bay Downs in the winter. She has 292 career wins for mount earnings of nearly $5.7 million. Glyshaw was among the first trainers for whom she worked after migrating to the U.S.
The spill occurred in the fifth race Wednesday, a six-furlong starter-allowance, when Divine Thunder clipped heels approaching the half-mile pole on the main track, throwing jockey Alejandro Contreras. As he fell, Divine Thunder’s leg struck jockey Francisco Torres aboard My Prize Now, causing Torres to take up sharply. Rossi, on 73-1 shot Top Priority, then came off when unable to avoid Divine Thunder, with Top Priority falling atop her.
Rossi was rushed to nearby Major Hospital, where she was stabilized before being transferred to IU Methodist.
Glyshaw has been part of a large contingent of racetrack friends and colleagues spending time at the hospital. He said Rossi’s mother was en route Friday from her home in France.
According to Glyshaw, Torres suffered a fractured foot and Contreras suffered two fractures in his lower back that should heal without lasting damage. Both jockeys will be sidelined indefinitely. All three horses survived without catastrophic injury.
One of Glyshaw’s clients, Hoosier Daddy Stable, said it will contribute 5 percent of stable earnings through the end of this year toward Rossi’s medical expenses “and we’d like to encourage other owners to do the same if possible,” said Del Cato, managing partner for the stable. “We are really pulling hard for Oriana.”
Last October, apprentice Juan Saez suffered fatal injuries in a spill at Indiana Grand.
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cait
Active Member
Posts: 3,821
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Post by cait on Jul 27, 2015 16:44:40 GMT -5
a bit more info
Contreras has rod, 2 screws inserted in back
Jennie Rees
Louisville Courier Journal
Jockey Alex Contreras, who along with Oriana Rossi sustained back injuries in a spill Wednesday at Indiana Grand, had a rod and two screws inserted during surgery Friday at OrthoIndy in Indianapolis to stabilize his spine, said Bones Wirth, who is Contreras' agent and Rossi's former agent and a friend.
Wirth said in a text message Saturday that he was told it would take three months for Contreras to heal. "All I know for now," he wrote in response to a question. "Don't know about riding."
Contreras' mount in Wednesday's fifth race clipped heels with the leader and fell. Rossi's mount fell over Contreras' horse. Neither horse appeared to be injured.
Trainer Tim Glyshaw, who gave Rossi her first U.S. mount, has been a regular visitor at Indiana University Healthcare Methodist, where the jockey had surgery Thursday. Glyshaw and other visitors say that she has been heavily sedated and that more evaluation is expected once she is conscious and alert.
Glyshaw said he was told that it could be two weeks, after the swelling on the spinal cord subsides, before the exact nature of the injuries can be determined and any kind of prognosis made.
"It's just a sad, sad deal, because she was always so full of energy," Glyshaw said. "And now she's on all these machines."
Glyshaw and jockey agent Jimmy McNerney (who is also the announcer at Ellis Park) have been working to establish a bank account for people to make donations to Rossi but found that is much more difficult than they anticipated.
"We have to get some power of attorney given to us, from her or her mom to be able to do anything," Glyshaw said.
Glyshaw said Rossi's mother and stepfather are scheduled to arrive Saturday from France. Rossi is a British national of Italian descent. She was an exercise rider for Glyshaw when she began riding races in the U.S. in 2009 at Ellis Park. Glyshaw put her on her first mount.
Horse owner Loren Hebel-Osborne remember the circumstances well. She and her husband, David Osborne, were partners in a home-bred horse named Hot Copy that had four straight seconds in $5,000 and $7,500 maiden-claiming races at River Downs. But the horse always worked well in the mornings for Rossi.
"He was (stakes-winner) Grand Traverse's half-brother, but he was a terrible race horse," Hebel-Osborne said in text messages. "He worked so well in the morning with Oriana that we begged her to try him in the afternoon as a jockey. She finally agreed. He ran awful that day and every other day – not any reflection of her skills.
"I remember the day well. When she got off the horse after the race, she looked stunned. She said, 'Wow, that was fast…. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean the horse!' We all died laughing."
Though Rossi never rode him in a race, Hebel-Osborne gives her a lot of credit as an exercise rider for helping to develop Grand Traverse into a 14-time winner and $507,015-earner.
Rossi won the $85,000 Swifty Sired Fillies Stakes on the Glyshaw-trained Nevertoomanykisses on June 10, as well as three other races.
Indiana Grand was the site last October of the spill that resulted in fatal head injuries to apprentice jockey Juan Saez. As with the most recent mishap, it was the result of a horse falling after clipping heels. Jockeys will say that clipping heels -- when a horse's front leg gets entangled with another horse's hind leg -- often is a bigger danger than when a horse suffers an injury in a race. That's because there often is a second or two warning when a horse takes a misstep or is injured that allows the rider time to try to pull the horse up or to prepare for a fall. There might be no warning when a horse clips heels and falls.
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