Linda Pincay, Wife of Jockey, Dies of Wound

Linda Pincay, 37, the wife of jockey Laffit Pincay, died Sunday afternoon at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, almost 48 hours after she apparently shot herself in the head at their Los Feliz home.

A hospital spokesman announced that she died at 3:05 p.m. after having been under a life-support system since the shooting at about 4:30 p.m. Friday.

The shooting occurred Friday behind a locked bedroom door while Pincay was waiting to ride the last race on the program at Santa Anita, police said.

Lisa Pincay, the couple’s 14-year-old daughter, reportedly argued with her mother, who went to a bedroom and locked the door behind her. Lisa, knowing that her mother had a .22-caliber pistol in the room, is said to have been banging on the door, pleading for her mother to come out, when the shot was fired.

Linda was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where her condition had remained critical.

Besides Laffit and Lisa, she is survived by a 9-year-old son, Laffit III. Linda Pincay was married to Laffit for 17 years, having met the jockey through her father, the late William Radkovich, who raced horses.

However, the Hollywood Division police report indicated that the Pincays were “estranged.” Linda had never fully recovered from a ruptured appendix she suffered about a year ago.

Sgt. Ron Dina of the Hollywood Division said that an investigation into the shooting would continue today.

A gun expert said that although a .22-caliber pistol is not as powerful as larger firearms, it is capable of causing more permanent damage when fired from close range.

Pincay, 38, had canceled all of his mounts since he rushed out of the Santa Anita jockeys’ room Friday after being told of the shooting in a phone call from Lisa. Normally soft-spoken, Pincay was heard shouting into the telephone after he heard the news.

Despite an early 1985 slump, Pincay is only 17 wins away from the 6,000 mark. Only Bill Shoemaker and Johnny Longden have more career winners. In 1984 Pincay had one of his best years, finishing third nationally with $10.9 million in purses. Pincay won the Kentucky Derby for the first time with Swale and came back with the same colt to take the Belmont Stakes. Pincay became only the second jockey to win the Belmont three straight times.

Despite his riding success, Pincay’s life has been filled with sacrifice and sadness. He has fought a weight problem for years, constantly dieting and eating hardly more than one full meal a week. His father, a famous Panamanian jockey, left home when Laffit was a child and moved to Venezuela to ride. Pincay’s mother lives in the Los Angeles area, and the jockey spends almost every Tuesday--a day when local tracks are closed--visiting with her.

Pincay’s close friend, Alvaro Pineda, was killed in a starting-gate accident at Santa Anita in 1975, leaving Pincay depressed for several months.

“It’s going to be tough for Laffit to come back from what happened to Linda,” a Santa Anita jockey said over the weekend. “The thing he’s got to do is not blame himself.”