Former Jockey Donahue Rides Wheelchair in Long Beach Race

Gary Donahue, a jockey who rode for seven years before a spill at Suffolk Downs in 1986 left him paralyzed from the waist down, has taken up wheelchair racing and will compete Sunday in the Long Beach Half Marathon.

The Long Beach race will be the second time Donahue will use a three-wheeled racing wheelchair that was given to him by the Jockeys’ Guild and Rob Murphy, a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who also runs a bloodstock information agency.

The first time he used the racing chair, Donahue finished 85th among 325 entrants in a marathon in Japan.

“We have a lot of members who are in the same condition that Gary is,” said Chuck Corolla, an official with the Jockeys’ Guild. “We’re hoping that Gary does well in these marathons, because it might be an inspiration for some of the other guys to try the same thing.

“The public hears far too much about the Pat Valenzuelas and the Chris Antleys (jockeys with drug problems) and not enough about the Gary Donahues.”

Donahue, 26, rode 564 winners before his accident. In his biggest win, he rode Colonel Moran in the Red Bank Handicap at Monmouth Park in 1981.

He was introduced to wheelchair racing earlier this year by Max Rhoads, a 76-year-old paraplegic.