Injured Jockey Suing Calder Race Course
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A jockey severely injured during a horse race is suing the course because she claims it was no accident.
Grainy video from the June 27th race at Calder Race Course shows Pop's Gem go down, critically injuring jockey Zarella Ore. Nearly four months later Ore is still recovering from the fall.
"It's terrible, she stays in bed all the time," said Ore's Uncle Walter Rosas.
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Ore's uncle and attorney said the tumble was no accident.
With very few women jockeys in South Florida, Rosas' said jockey Jocelyn "Jocy" Gomez was jealous of his niece. According to Rosas, Gomez's disdain for Ore bled onto the track, as Gomez purposefully knocked into Ore during the race.
CBS4 spoke with a thoroughbred and horse racing expert from Kentucky to get his take on the video.
"It's hard to tell the intent," said Ray Paulick. "You can see Jocelyn Gomez hit her horse twice with the whip using her right hand, which sometimes will cause a horse to go in the opposite direction."
We tried to get an interview with Jocelyn Gomez but she declined. But Gomez told CBS4 News that "the allegations are not true" and that the video shows that.
Ore's attorney Joseph Madalon notes Gomez may have been concerned that Zarella was moving up.
"She (Ore) had won 6 races and she was becoming popular for taking good mounts, because she was a better jockey. At that point, those mounts disappeared from Jocelyn. Jocelyn had her way of trying to pay back Zarella," said Madalon.
Madalon said Calder Race Course knew trouble was brewing and did nothing to stop it. Now, Ore is suing the track.
"Several horse owners and a third party went to the steward who controls horse racing at Calder and said, 'You must do something. Someone's going to get hurt and it's going to be Zarella.' And they did nothing."
Zarella's attorney said she will likely never ride a horse again. He's just hoping to she'll heal enough to be able to care for her 8-year-old daughter.
Calder Race Course is not commenting, saying they don't talk about pending litigation.
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