Vance, trainer, hurt in crash

Trainer David Vance was scheduled to undergo surgery Monday following a one-vehicle highway accident Sunday in which he was reported to suffer a fractured vertebra and ruptured disk.

Jamie Grubbs, a longtime family friend and fellow trainer, said Vance was traveling on Interstate 71 from Louisville, Ky., where he lives, to Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., when the accident occurred Sunday at about 3:30 p.m. Eastern. His Ford Explorer hydroplaned during inclement weather, went out of control, and turned over in the vicinity of the Walton-Verona exit, about 10 miles south of Turfway.

Grubbs said Vance, 67, was extricated from the wreckage and flown by medical helicopter to St. Luke's Hospital in Florence, where he was stabilized and evaluated. He then was flown that night to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where the surgery was scheduled Monday.

"He did not lose consciousness in the accident," Grubbs said Monday. "Initially he did not have any feeling from his shoulders down, but by today he had regained some feeling. The doctors said he has a fractured C-4 vertebra and a ruptured disk. He also has some facial cuts and bruises."