Hall of Fame jockey Randy Romero in hospice

Hall of Fame jockey Randy Romero, who has suffered with kidney and liver disease for years, is under hospice care at his home in Lafayette, La., according to his friend and colleague, retired jockey Eddie Donnally.

Romero, 62, told Donnally: “I’m very sick but I haven’t given up,” further relating that surgery for a rare kidney and liver transplant was not feasible.

Romero, a boy wonder whose fabled career was the basis for the movie “Casey’s Shadow,” had a major role in some of the most memorable major races of a generation ago. He rode Personal Ensign to a last-gasp victory in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs, keeping the Hall of Fame filly unbeaten, and he was aboard Go for Wand when she broke down in deep stretch of the 1990 BC Distaff at Belmont Park.

In all, Romero rode 4,294 winners and had $75 million in mount earnings during a 26-year career that ended in 1999. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Romero estimated he broke about 25 bones and underwent about 30 surgeries related to his riding career. In 1983, he suffered burns over 60 percent of his body in a hotbox fire at Oaklawn Park. He believes he contracted hepatitis C from a subsequent surgery from that incident, leading to his chronic problems with his liver and kidneys. He has undergone three-day-a-week dialysis treatment for the last 15 years or so.

Romero told Donnally: “I know God is going to be with me no matter what. And I know prayers help.”