Riding double an affirmation for comebacking Clark

The significance of Kerwin Clark’s win aboard Foxy Miss in the third race June 7 at Evangeline Downs did not hit the 59-year-old rider until he returned to the jockeys’ room. Yes, the victory on Foxy Miss, a mount he picked up that night, was his first since he sustained devastating injuries in a March 15 spill. But, there was an even deeper satisfaction.

Clark was coming back from having his jaw broken in four places, a collapsed lung, and 10 broken ribs. It was his first serious physical setback since 1986. Clark rehabbed himself, training at his home in Louisiana.

“Nobody really knew what I had to go through, except my wife,” Clark said. “I got back to the jocks’ room and kind of broke down. It felt good. It was emotional. At one point during those eight and a half weeks, I think I was the only one that thought I was going to ride again. After something like that, at my age, the family was kind of like, ‘I think you might need to find another job.’ As stubborn as we little people are, I said, ‘You know what, I’m not going to go out this way. Not like that. I want to go out on my own terms.’”

Clark, who launched his comeback May 30, won again on the same June 7 card at the in Opelousas, La., track, taking the feature with Magic Vow. Overall, Clark is a winner of more than 3,000 races in North America – including the 2015 Kentucky Oaks with Lovely Maria. Clark’s first victory came at the old Evangeline Downs in Carencro, La., in 1975.

“It’s been my whole life,” Clark said of riding. “I rode on the match tracks when I was a kid. When I was old enough to get a license, this is all I’ve ever done.”

On March 15, in the eighth race at Fair Grounds, Clark hit the ground hard in a spill that also sidelined Miguel Mena.

“I was finishing out the meet at the Fair Grounds, like I usually do after Delta,” Clark recalled. “I was on a nice filly named Ellashoo. I was head and head for the lead, and just before the quarter pole I heard a pop and straight down she went, never had a chance.

“Everything just kind of happened in slow motion. I know I’m going down. I thought, ‘Boy, this is not going to be good.’ The next thing I remember I’m underneath the inside rail. I rolled myself underneath there [then] was kind of sitting up. I know I’m bad. I knew my jaw was broken and I figured my lung was either punctured or collapsed because I couldn’t breathe.”

Clark spent five days in the hospital and had surgery on his jaw. He’s still facing some dental work, he said, to correct his bite. When he was strong enough, he started a physical rehabilitation program.

“We have a farm,” he said. “We have a little racetrack around the place and I started off walking, then jogging, to try to get my legs and my lungs back in shape. There’s nothing like riding a horse. It doesn’t matter what you do. You don’t use the same muscles in any kind of way, riding a horse.”

It all came together for Clark last week with the riding double at Evangeline.

“It just let me know that I was ready to do this again,” he said. “It felt really good. In the back of your mind, you have a little doubt there. Should I stop now, or keep going? It solidified my answer. I’m going to keep going.”