Assistant trainer Cindy Hutter injured in training incident

Cindy Hutter, an exercise rider and assistant trainer to her husband, George Weaver, was listed in stable condition Sunday afternoon at Albany Medical Center after being injured in a training incident Sunday morning in Saratoga, according to the New York Racing Association.

Hutter was galloping Vindatude, a 3-year-old filly the Weavers bred and own who won her career debut on June 26 at Belmont Park, when that horse had an apparent heart attack and went down on the Oklahoma training track. Hutter, according to those who saw the incident at Saratoga, was pinned underneath the horse, who died.

Hutter, who is believed to have suffered head trauma, was first taken by ambulance to Saratoga Hospital but was later airlifted to Albany Medical Center.

Hutter, a native of Romansville, Pa., is a lifelong horsewoman and in 1987 began galloping horses for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. She galloped, among others, champions Open Mind, Winning Colors, Flanders, and Thunder Gulch. She was among the first employees when Todd Pletcher left Lukas to begin his own training career in 1996. Her husband, George, also went to work for Pletcher before going out on his own in 2002.