Jockey Joree Scriver suffers paralysis after Sunland spill

Jockey Joree Scriver suffered lower-limb paralysis in a one-horse accident at Sunland Park in New Mexico on Jan. 1 and is undergoing treatment at a hospital in nearby El Paso, Texas, her family said Friday.

Scriver, 21, underwent two surgeries earlier this week after sustaining multiple vertebra fractures, according to her boyfriend, jockey Luis Fuentes. She also suffered a punctured lung and broken ribs.

Scriver was injured when her mount, No Huddle, fell on the backstretch of a $5,000 claimer at six furlongs. No Huddle was racing in midpack and appeared to be in the clear when the accident occurred.

Fuentes was riding in the same race in which Scriver was stricken and said his girlfriend had no warning that No Huddle would fall.

“I was right next to her in the race,” he said. “It happened really quick.”

As of Friday, Fuentes and Scriver’s family said they were hopeful she can be transferred in coming days from the Las Palmas Medical Center in El Paso to Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo., a premier rehabilitation center for paralysis patients.

Scriver’s sister, Nicole West, said there is hope Scriver’s condition will improve when spinal cord swelling subsides.

“That’s what we’re praying for,” she said in a phone interview Friday. “It’s scary. She still doesn’t have feeling from her belly button down.”

Scriver, who grew up in Curlew, Wash., eight miles from the Canadian border, has won 184 races from 1,427 mounts since her career began in 2019. She won a career-best 82 races in 2021 and had mounts that earned a career-best $1,848,642 in 2022.

“She’s been on a horse since she was in diapers,” West said.

Scriver won her first race on Bobbygenesjustice at the Tillamook Fair in Oregon in 2019, her only win that year.

Scriver has ridden in eight states throughout the West and Southwest – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.

In 2022, she rode primarily at Rillito Park and Turf Paradise in Arizona until early May before relocating to New Mexico.

At the Downs at Albuquerque meeting in late summer and fall last year, Scriver won 18 races, ranking second in the standings behind Alfredo Juarez Jr., who won 27 races. At the Zia Park meeting in Hobbs, N.M., last fall, she finished fourth in the standings with 23 wins, 22 wins behind Fuentes who led all riders. Scriver had a three-win day on Dec. 5.

A Go Fund Me page has been launched to defray costs.

“She’s in good spirits,” Fuentes said. “We’re just waiting on the swelling to go down.

“She’s got a lot of people supporting her. I get a lot of calls from people everywhere. She’s got a big family that supports her and that’s a good thing.”