Maryland jockey Toledo injured when horse falls

Jockey Jevian Toledo, the top rider by wins in Maryland last year and the leading rider at the Laurel Park fall that which concluded Dec. 31, was injured in a training accident Sunday morning.

Toledo was working a horse for trainer Jamie Ness at Laurel who fell. The horse reportedly got to his feet and ran back to the barn.

Toledo was taken to Howard County Hospital in Columbia, Md., with back and leg pain. According to his agent, Marty Leonard, X-rays revealed that Toledo has compression fractures of the T7 and T8 vertebrae in his mid-back region and a punctured lung.

Toledo is being transferred to the University of Maryland Medical Center's shock/trauma unit for precautionary measures.

According to Leonard, Toledo was comfortable and in good spirits.

Toledo's 2017 year-round Maryland title was his second in the past three years. He also led all riders by wins at the Maryland Jockey Club tracks of Laurel and Pimlico in 2015.

A 23-year-old native of Puerto Rico, Toledo has won the last three fall riding titles at Laurel. Since he began riding in 2013, Toledo has won 781 races and his mounts have earned more than $22 million in purses. He has a lifetime win average of 16 percent.

This has been a difficult year for some of Maryland's top riders.

Trevor McCarthy, the leading rider in Maryland in 2014 and 2016, dislocated a shoulder at Monmouth Park in May and just recently resumed riding. Carrasco, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice rider of 2013, is sidelined after breaking his leg at Delaware Park in September.