Jockey, horse escape injury in Lone Star Park incident
Apprentice jockey Simon Camacho-Benitez and his mount, Moro Flyboy, both escaped serious injury in a first-race incident Friday night at Lone Star Park, according to the stewards.
Moro Flyboy was up by a clear margin in the stretch run of the $7,500 maiden claiming sprint for 3-year-olds and up bred in Texas when the horse veered in sharply, bounced off the rail, and lost his rider. The oncoming horses avoided Camacho-Benitez.
Moro Flyboy ran on through the wire and galloped out with the field, as Camacho-Benitez walked away from the incident. The stewards said the rider took off the remainder of his mounts Friday.
“He’s all right,” agent Bradley White said. “He had to go get a concussion test before he can be back.”
White said the rider is not named on horses Saturday or Sunday. He said he would be back over the Fourth of July weekend. Lone Star has a three-day race week coming up, and after Sunday does not race back again until Saturday, July 2.
Moro Flyboy is a 4-year-old gelding who was making the second start of his career Friday. He broke from the rail in the race, and was up by seven lengths at the time of the incident, according to the official chart of the race. He was overtaken late by the winner of the race, Heavenly Trump ($6.40).