Hovdey: St. Julien gets a lift from Smith's kindness

Lying in a hospital bed in Iowa, Marlon St. Julien had just finished watching Justify take the Belmont Stakes last Saturday to become the 13th winner of the Triple Crown. He was tired, emotionally drained, and the meds were kicking in. As he began to drift, St. Julien heard the familiar voice of his pal, Mike Smith, and he smiled, at peace with the fact that despite his own situation something very good in racing had just happened. Then this:

“I’d like to say one thing in the midst of all this,” Smith said as NBC’s Donna Brothers rode alongside Justify. “All the disabled riders, I dedicate this to you. And Marlon St. Julien – get better, brother. We’re praying for you.”

A thousand miles away, Smith’s words hit their target.

“I was just closing my eyes,” St. Julien said. “Then I hear my name, and Mike does that, at the moment he wins the Triple Crown, taking time to acknowledge me and the disabled riders. It blew me away. Everybody who called me was crying.

“The next morning I called him, and that sucker answered the phone,” St. Julien went on. “I’d been getting down a little bit, although I tried not to show it to my family, and I told him how much he lifted me up. I told him I couldn’t thank him enough. He was my angel with a heart of gold. Of platinum!”

And how did Smith react to such an outpouring from his injured colleague?

“You know Mike,” St. Julien said. “He was all flattered. ‘Aw, come on, Marlon,’ he said.”

Though worlds apart in accomplishments, St. Julien and Smith admire each other as brothers in arms, facing the same daily dangers no matter the size of the purse, and their paths have crossed often enough.

St. Julien, 46, is a Louisiana native whose early career included championships at Delta Downs and Lone Star Park. In February 2000, his career-best season, St. Julien was featured in the ABC Sports documentary “Raising the Roof: Seven Athletes for the 21st Century.” The others profiled included Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Serena Williams, and Kobe Bryant.

Three months later, St. Julien made headlines when he became the first African-American jockey to compete in the Kentucky Derby in 79 years. He rode Godolphin’s Curule, part of a 23-1 entry, to a seventh-place finish.

After a few fallow years during the current decade, St. Julien had a comeback year in 2017 riding a circuit that included Oaklawn Park, Prairie Meadows, and Remington Park. He was on the same schedule this season and was coming to the end of a full day of racing at Prairie Meadows on Saturday, May 19, when his accident occurred.

That same day, Mike Smith was enjoying the post-race rush of Justify’s victory in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico when St. Julien went postward aboard the maiden-claimer Carbaugh in the last of nine races. Earlier on the Prairie Meadows program, St. Julien had won the 2,468th race of his 29-year career with Battered, a 7-year-old gelding making his 71st start. Carbaugh and St. Julien entered the gate in the outside post 9, but immediately after the gates opened they were slammed hard by the 8-horse, Pivotal Charlie, when the horse in post 7, Wild Card Playoff, veered sharply to his right.

Carbaugh was tripped and stumbled badly, sending St. Julien hard to the ground, with the back of his neck taking most of the force. His memory of the accident is spotty.

“I don’t remember coming out of the gate,” he said. “The only thing I remember is a cracking sound when I hit the ground.”

The sound was the fracturing of three thoracic vertebrae.

“I knew I got plowed, but then when I hit – how can I explain this – it was like I could feel nothing but my head,” he said. “It was like my head came off, like I’d come apart from my body. I was freaking out. I felt my arm come back a little, but I was yelling, ‘I’m paralyzed! I’m paralyzed!’ One of the gate guys got to me, and I calmed down a little. But it was bad, man. It was crazy.”

St. Julien underwent emergency surgery to stabilize his spine. To his great relief, he was told that nerve damage was limited and none were severed, and that the lack of movement in his legs and arms was due primarily to swelling from the trauma and post-operative healing. After two weeks at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines he was taking steps down the hallway, and this week he was admitted to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., a facility specializing in rehabilitation from spinal injuries.

He was speaking from Craig when he called.

“They’re putting my team together now for rehab,” St. Julien said. “I still need some assistance to walk, but I can hold my own weight. I don’t have full control of my hands and arms yet, but every day is a different deal.”

St. Julien could be at Craig for as long as three months. His goal is simple: He hopes to ride again.

“Yesterday when I woke up, I saw my fingers move,” he said. “Then I tried to make them move, and when they did I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t believe it. Now I can open and close my right hand.”