DRF Weekend: Theriot-Douglas aftermath

NTamm1215 · #1 12-09-2009, 07:59 PM

I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie Theriot in September at La Downs and he's a tremendously nice guy who is incredibly devoted to his occupation. I hope that the Douglas family will show interest in forgiving him in the future and closing the book on what happened at AP.

Fateful move that changed two lives
By Marcus Hersh

In the hierarchy of bad things that can happen to a jockey, the two worst seem clear: You can get killed, and you can be permanently disabled.

Below that come the less obvious. You can be the rider that walks away from a spill where another jockey doesn't get up. And that is the path Jamie Theriot has been walking since last May 23 at Arlington Park.

In the Arlington Matron Handicap late that afternoon, Theriot had the mount on Sky Mom for one of his main clients, trainer Al Stall. Rene Douglas was aboard a Woodbine shipper he never had ridden named Born to Be. At the quarter pole, Theriot was trapped at the fence, just behind the leader. Douglas and Born to Be raced a couple paths off the rail. A hole opened outside the lead horse, and, steering outside, Theriot went for it. So did Douglas. The two horses came together. More violent bumps regularly occur in horse races. But for whatever reason, Born to Be careened crazily to the outside, clipping heels, and going down in a grotesque fall.

The filly eventually died from her fall, and her rider was terribly hurt. Douglas had emergency surgery later that night to fuse vertebrae in his spine, and he had more broken bones higher up his back. Douglas, 42, has not walked since he took his seat on Born to Be, and he may never regain use of his legs. His life - changed inexorably.

Theriot (pronounced TAIR-ee-o) bears no external scars. His horse completed the race unscathed. Theriot did not even know Douglas had gone down until after the finish. But the Douglas fall has changed Theriot, too.

"I've been in spills, with me and other people," Theriot, 30, said during the Keeneland meet in October. "But no, I never had somebody fall and have my number get taken down. First time in 13 years I dropped a rider, ever. I remember it like it was yesterday."

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.drf.com/news/article/109452.html

NT