Rossi taken to Indianapolis hospital with spinal injuries

SHELBYVILLE, Ind. - Jockey Oriana Rossi was transported from a local hospital to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis on Wednesday after being injured in a spill at Indiana Grand earlier in the day. Two other riders injured in the spill, Francisco Torres and Alejandro Contreras, were released from Major Hospital in Shelbyville Wednesday night.

The three were injured in the fifth race when Contreras's mount, Divine Thunder, clipped heels with the leader near the half-mile pole in the starter allowance. Divine Thunder hit the ground, then came up and broadsided My Prize Now, who was ridden by Torres. Top Priority could not avoid the fallen horse and unseated Rossi. Torres had to take up on his mount, but finished the race. The other two horses regained their feet and galloped around the course.

"Oriana has some swelling and some injuries to her vertebrae," Jon Schuster, general manager of Indiana Grand, said at the Shelbyville hospital's emergency room.

Schuster arrived at the hospital in time to see Torres walk out with a cast on his foot. Torres said he had a fracture in his foot where Divine Thunder's foot hit him. Torres had returned to the jockeys' room following the race and was then taken to the hospital. Rossi and Contreras were transported directly to the hospital.

Just after 9 p.m., some five hours after the spill, Contreras was wheeled out of the emergency room and released. According to his valet, Jonathan Vasquez, Contreras had broken a couple of vertebrae.

"If he can walk, they will let him go tonight, but he will have to go to a friend's home because we have too many stairs at our apartment," said Vasquez, who is Contreras's roommate.