An exercise rider who fell while galloping a horse early Monday at Oklahoma Training Track died Tuesday morning at Albany Medical Center.
Parker Buckley III, 40, a former jockey, was employed since April 2007 by Steve Asmussen, trainer of 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.
Buckley, who was reportedly conscious right after the fall, was first taken to Saratoga Hospital, then flown to Albany where a CT scan revealed blood on the brain and doctors placed him in a medically-induced coma.
"I never met anybody who didn't like him," Asmussen said Tuesday, after visiting with Buckley's family in Albany. "I can say without hesitation, he's a great guy. Last winter he called me from Tampa and said he was going to quit riding.
"He's worked for me ever since."
The tragedy casts a shadow over this week's Travers Festival and a 2008 meet that by any account has been largely disappointing. Hampered by bad weather, high gas prices and a poor economy, attendance and handle figures are well below average and Saturday's Travers has none of the most high-profile horses from this year's Triple Crown races.
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