Ouzts avoids serious injury in spill at Turfway Park

Perry Ouzts, the 62-year-old jockey who ranks 11th all time among North American jockeys with 6,715 career victories, was fortunate to escape with no more than body soreness after being unseated from his mount, Toston, a little more than a quarter-mile into Thursday’s sixth race at Turfway Park.

The incident occurred entering the turn of the six-furlong race when Toston unexpectedly propped, sending Ouzts tumbling over his mount. With Toston last at the time, there were no trailing horses to trample the rider.

The incident “rang his bell a bit,” agent Jamie Fowler said, and Ouzts didn’t ride his remaining mounts on the card.

Fowler said Ouzts felt well enough to work horses Friday morning, but Fowler told him to take the morning off to rest. Ouzts planned to ride at Turfway on Friday evening, said Fowler.

Toston landed on the stewards’ list, leaving him ineligible to compete until owner/trainer Laura Bealmear can convince the stewards that the horse is not a danger to a rider. The horse also propped shortly after the finish of a Dec. 31 race at Turfway, unseating Ouzts, although the jockey felt at the time that he had shied from finish-line lights or flash photography.