Apprentice jockey Christian Olmo, the second-leading rider at the Maryland State Fair meet at Timonium, was transported by helicopter from the track to the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center yesterday after a fall in the seventh race.
Olmo's agent, Frank Douglas, said the jockey's condition was not life-threatening and that Olmo was complaining of chest and back pain and further tests were scheduled.
Olmo, 20, a native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was leading the half-mile race for fillies and mares when his mount, Evening on Rainier, took a bad step and fell near the quarter pole. Another horse, Dante's Rocket, fell over Evening on Rainier and Olmo.
Jockeys Travis Dunkelberger, who rode Dante's Rocket, and Richard Monterrey, who fell from Maymont trying to avoid the accident, were treated at the track for soreness.
"It was just a disaster," said track handicapper Gina Rosenthal, who witnessed the fall. " I was praying for him. It was ugly. It was bad."
-- John Scheinman
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