Hall of Fame jockey Romero has stomach tumor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Hall of Fame jockey Randy Romero, troubled by a number of physical ailments during and after his riding career, is facing more health problems. On Wednesday, during medical tests required to be placed on a waiting list for a liver and kidney transplant, doctors found a tumor in his stomach.

“It’s as big as a marble, and I’m going to have surgery soon,” he said Friday. “They are going to try to laser or go in and dig it out. They don’t know if it is cancerous or not. But if it’s cancerous, I’m going to be off the list. I’m going to be in trouble.”

Romero said his liver has “no more function.” Over the past 14 years, he also has undergone regular kidney dialysis.

It was his kidney and liver troubles that necessitated his retirement in 1999, although those weren’t the first of his physical setbacks. He broke numerous bones during his riding career and nearly died in a freak accident in April 1983 at Oaklawn Park when rubbing alcohol ignited while he was in the “sweat box,” a sauna in which jockeys sit for periods of time to reduce weight. Romero suffered severe burns.

Romero, 57, is best known as the regular rider of the unbeaten Personal Ensign, who narrowly caught Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs in one of the most thrilling races in Breeders’ Cup history. He also was the regular rider of Go for Wand.

He is widely considered one of the most resilient and toughest jockeys of the past few decades, riding through injury and undergoing more than 20 surgeries.

On Friday, veteran jockey Jon Court reminisced about being shocked many years ago to see the state of Romero’s foot after he removed a boot while in the jockeys’ room. He said he told Romero he might lose his foot if he kept riding in that condition. According to Court, Romero told him he must keep riding, saying, “I’m the leading rider.”

He was the leading rider quite a bit during his peak years, earning titles at Belmont, Keeneland, Fair Grounds, and other tracks. He retired with more than 4,000 wins and was inducted into racing’s Hall of Fame in 2010.

After his riding career ended and when his health allowed it, he stayed involved in the racing industry as a jockey agent and returned to the saddle as an exercise rider for trainer Dallas Stewart, among others.

For the past month, Romero has been living with his mother, Joyce, in Erath, La., after his father, Lloyd, died in mid-April.

Lloyd Romero, like much of the Romero family, was involved in racing, training the standout Louisiana-bred mare Hallowed Dreams to 16 consecutive wins, which earned national attention. He also trained the Quarter Horse Rocket’s Magic, whose story, along with that of the Romero family, was the inspiration for the movie “Casey’s Shadow.”

Romero said he would go Tuesday to New Orleans, where he is being treated at the Ochsner Clinic. He said he was awaiting a call from his doctor to tell him when his surgery would be scheduled to remove the tumor.

“I hope it’s not cancerous,” he said. “I feel pretty good. I ain’t giving up yet.”

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the year in which Randy Romero suffered severe burns in a sauna accident. It was 1983, not 1993.