Injured Jockey Files $87-Million Suit

Jockey Don MacBeth, seriously injured in a racing accident, has filed an $87-million negligence suit, claiming he was never told that a veterinarian had declared his horse unfit for the race before being overruled, his attorney said Tuesday.

MacBeth had been grossing $600,000 a year before the April 5 accident at Aqueduct that has left him in a back brace with a fractured spine, said Martin Baron, his attorney.

The negligence suit, filed Monday in state Supreme Court in Jamaica, Queens, charges that the jockey was not told that a New York State Racing Assn. veterinarian initially had disqualified the 4-year-old colt, Fleet Halo.

Baron said Dr. Danielle Sand, a NYRA vet, looked at the horse three hours before the race at Aqueduct and declared he had “a hot leg,” which indicated some type of leg injury.

“When trainer Pedro Peters found out, he went wild . . . and attempted to ice the horse’s leg to try to hide it (the injury),” Baron charged. He said the trainer then called in private veterinarian Dr. William O. Reed to take an X-ray, followed by another NYRA vet, Dr. Fred Reynolds.

Reynolds overruled Sands’ initial disqualification and allowed the horse to run, the suit said. During the race, Fleet Halo stumbled and fell, throwing MacBeth, Baron said. The horse broke his leg and had to be destroyed.

The suit was filed against NYRA Inc., which operates the state’s race tracks; the owners of Fleet Halo, John Balyis and Theodore Kruckel; Peters, the trainer; and Reed.

Reed denied he ever examined the horse or offered an opinion on its condition. “The trainer asked me for an X-ray, which I delivered,” he said.

Meanwhile, Baron also filed a $1.5-million negligence suit on behalf of another jockey, Sergio Arellano, injured in a Dec. 4 accident at Aqueduct.

The attorney said Arellano’s horse, Magnetize, also was unfit but allowed to run on an icy track. The horse fell, spilling Arellano to the ground.

Arellano suffered multiple fractures.