Exercise Rider Dies; Jockey Critical

An exercise rider died after suffering a heart attack while galloping a horse during training, Garden State Park officials said Friday.

James M. Muir, 55, was taken to Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Cherry Hill after he collapsed near the grandstands around 8:30 a.m., the track said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Meanwhile, a jockey who sustained a severe neck injury when thrown from her horse Thursday, was listed in critical condition, officials said.

Gwen Jocson fractured the first vertebra in the mishap in the ninth race. She was in critical but stable condition at Cooper Medical Center in Camden.