Tyler Conner hospitalized with fractured vertebra, broken nose
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Jockey Tyler Conner was transported to a nearby trauma center following a one-horse spill in the seventh race at Colonial Downs on Thursday. Remaining races on the card were canceled following the incident.
Conner was turning for home aboard 3-year-old gelding Stanza when another runner in the race crossed into his path and caused Stanza to stumble and fall. Conner fell to the ground and could not get up under his own power, requiring medical attention on the track.
The loose gelding was eventually contained by outriders, having sustained little more than nicks and bruises, per trainer Elizabeth Merryman.
According to Conner’s agent, Paula Bacon, he was transported from the track to the Virginia Commonwealth University Trauma Center in Richmond, Va. He complained that he “could not move everything” immediately after the incident, but he has since regained feeling in most areas and was in “great spirits” in the trauma center.
Bacon said that Conner has been diagnosed with fractures to his C1 vertebra and nose, along with other possible stress fractures. The C1 vertebra is the bone in the spinal cord nearest to the skull, and that fracture was likely responsible for his loss of feeling after the fall.
Colonial Downs released a statement explaining that track officials decided to cancel the remainder of the card in order to support the jockey colony after Conner’s spill.
A jockey since 2014, Conner began his career at Penn National Race Course and eventually expanded to other tracks around the Mid-Atlantic Region. He moved to the West Coast in 2017 and 2018 but eventually returned to his home base, where he has remained since.
He was scheduled to ride at Penn National, Colonial, and Presque Isle Downs in the coming days.
In his career, Conner has won 1,271 races and has purse earnings of more than $29.2 million. This year, Conner has 54 wins from 333 starts, including three stakes victories.
Conner has won four graded stakes: The Grade 3 Remington Oaks in 2023, the Grade 2 Penn Mile in 2022, the Grade 3 All American at Golden Gate Fields in 2018, and the Grade 2 Eddie D at Santa Anita in 2017.
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