Exercise rider dies after training accident at Los Alamitos

California exercise rider Alfredo Luevano died Friday after sustaining injuries in a morning training accident on the Los Alamitos backstretch, the track announced Friday evening.

A native of Mexico, Luevano was 53.

Circumstances surrounding the accident were unclear late Friday afternoon. Luevano was aboard a horse trained by Mike Casselman when he was injured.

In a brief interview with Daily Racing Form on Friday, Casselman said he did not witness the incident.

According to a statement released by the track, Luevano was attended to by ambulance personnel. He was transported to nearby Long Beach Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

“I’m sick about it,” Casselman said.

“He took a horse for me every now and then. He galloped for several people here and he came by my barn every day.”

Luevano was a former jockey who rode briefly in Colorado and Kansas from 1999 to 2002 and again in Colorado and Oklahoma in 2013. He was winless with 33 career mounts in the United States.

Luevano, who was issued an exercise rider’s license in California earlier this year, last rode in races in 2013 when he was briefly based at Arapahoe Park, near Denver.

Survivors include his wife, Marisela Martinez; his father, Augustine; five children; and six grandchildren.

The track is planning a moment of silence in Luevano’s honor on Sunday, a spokesman said.