Samyn breaks bones in fall

Jockey Jean-Luc Samyn suffered a broken collarbone and a fractured pelvis as a result of a spill during training hours Tuesday morning at Saratoga. Though the oldest active member of the Saratoga jockey colony - Samyn will turn 50 in November - he vows to return to race riding.

"When I retire it will not be after a fall,'' Samyn said by phone from his Saratoga Hospital room. "I would never go out like that. It's just another bump in the road, not uncommon in this game."

Samyn was working a maiden 2-year-old filly for trainer Allen Jerkens on Tuesday morning on the main track when the bridle broke on the right side. Samyn still had a hold of the left side of the bridle and the yoke and thought he had the horse slowed down.

"All of a sudden the bridle fell out of her mouth, and that was the end of the story," Samyn said. "She picked up speed, she started to bolt; I'm going too fast to jump. I'm just hoping there's an outrider that can pick me up. With the yoke and the noseband I'm trying to guide her."

The filly then ducked toward one of the gaps that lead onto the track and Samyn was thrown. Samyn was taken off the track on a stretcher and taken to Saratoga Hospital. Samyn's X-rays were sent to Dr. David Helfet of New York's Hospital for Special Surgery, who operated on Samyn when he broke his leg at Saratoga in 2003. Samyn was awaiting word from Helfet whether he would require surgery.

Samyn was winless in 13 mounts at this Saratoga meet.