Douglas to have surgery following spill
 

Jockey Rene Douglas, hurt in an accident late Saturday afternoon at Arlington Park, was to undergo surgery at 11 p.m. Central at Northwestern Hospital in Chicago after being transported via helicopter from Northwest Hospital near Arlington.

Douglas has an injured back, according to his longtime agent Dennis Cooper, and was to have arthroscopic surgery, the concern being the possibility that a bone splinter had lodged in his spine.
http://www.drf.com/news/article/104048.html

that's not good to hear. hope the surgery goes ok.

The track announcer did not even acknowledge the accident during the race.

sorry to hear he will require surgery. hopefully he'll make a full and swift recovery.

this, on the horse, from bloodhorse:

Cooper said he had been told that the horse, trained by Eric Coatreiux, had recovered from the incident. A spokesperson for Arlington Park said the filly was back at the barn having some issues, but had not been euthanized.

i addressed this in another forum and its late so i'm just going to cut and paste.

"I'll tell you exactly how. listen to the call. about 1 second after the horse fell he gives you the 3/4 time. when an announcer goes to give the fractional time, especially when they are turning for home, they generally have to look all the way to their right to see the time on the board, then go back to their binoculars, thus they are probably looking away from the race for anywhere from half a second, to a full second or more.

when the horse went down, John G. was looking at the board to get the 3/4 time. when he looked back into his binoculars, the first horses you look at are the leaders, who at that time were already 30 or 40 yards infront of the fallen horse.

nothing Dooley could do about it. Stuff like that happens all the time to all announcers"

Awful thing. I hope there's no permanent paralysis. My best wishes to Rene and his family. He was a fixture at Arlington, he had a great career.

Hope the filly survives, too.

It is being reported on HRTV that he is paralyzed from the waist down.

Not sure what to say other than I feel terrible for everyone involved, especially Rene, who is just a fixture and a great rider.

Wow... that's terrible news. Sad to hear.

I'll 2nd that bigtime.

I just hope the best for him, his family and for all involved. He'll be sorely missed at AP!

I probably shouldn't say anything right now, but let's just hope it's post-surgery trauma and all that nonsense.

We are all members of the same community -- this great sport and industry. So let's all hope for the best for Rene and his family.

Eric

Agreed. A very sobering part of the game.

Terrible news....
 

All the best to Rene and his family.

I hope you're right.

Prayers for him and for his family.

i'm hoping that since he did have feeling below the waist just after the accident that any paralysis he may be having now is not permanent. awful, awful news. i hope he comes out of surgery well and that he makes a full recovery.
my thoughts go out to him and his family.

i'll second that

Get well Rene!!! Arlington just isn't Arlington without Rene

Saw this on another forum:

Classy move if that is true.

Very Classy! Man, I hope that since he did have some feeling in his legs after that he will walk agian. Get well Rene!

He IS Arlington and Chicago racing to me. I am hoping against hope he will fully recover.