A Horseshoe for Luck : Jockey Jimi Okamura Rehabilitating Well From Awful Spill

In one way, nothing has changed for Jimi Okamura in the last month.

The jockey, 29, is still looking forward. Now, however, his objective is different.

Before Oct. 10, Okamura was eager for Hawthorne Race Course in suburban Chicago to begin its season.

“I was gearing up for a good meeting there,” he said. “It seemed like everything was on track. A lot of trainers I had ridden for at Oaklawn [Park in Arkansas] and Sportsman’s Park [in Cicero, Ill.] like Bernie Flint, Steve Asmussen, Ron Goodrich and David Hinsley said we would do well.”

What happened five weeks ago changed everything. Okamura won’t be riding at Hawthorne or anywhere else any time soon. But, he will be back.

Just ask him and some who have gotten to know him at Casa Colina, a hospital for rehabilitative medicine in Pomona.

That’s where Okamura is recuperating from a brain injury suffered in an accident during a race at Arlington International. Besides the head trauma, he suffered a broken bone around his left eye and serious bruises.

Aboard Kasey Kan, a low-level claimer he had ridden to victory before, Okamura was thrown when the horse had a fatal heart attack less than a quarter of a mile from the finish.

Loss of short-term memory has been a problem for the rider, who began his career in this area before leaving for the Midwest about a year ago, but he recalls part of the accident.

“When I saw a tape of the race, I remembered his actions underneath me at the time,” he said. “[Kasey Kan] was second, about three lengths off the lead, when I put him in gear and he started catching up to the leader quickly. I hit him twice left-handed and he was right on the heels [of the leader].

“When he had his heart attack, he froze up on me and stuck his [front] legs in the ground. That’s what threw me off balance and I went off his left side.”

The tape revealed the rest. The fall from Kasey Kan didn’t cause Okamura’s injuries. Instead, it was another horse.

“When I stopped rolling, I kind of got up and as I sat up, one of [a trailing horse’s] knees caught me in the head.

“When I was on the ground, I had heard most of the horses go by already and, frankly, I didn’t think any were behind me. When he came up on me, it was surprising.”

In a coma for three days after the incident, Okamura was then brought back to California and spent some time in Glendale Adventist hospital before going to Casa Colina, where trainer Jeff Lukas underwent rehabilitation after being run over by Tabasco Cat in Dec., 1993.

He is making progress, according to program director Barbara Urabe, and was able to move into his current program quickly.

“Jimi came to us very recent post-injury,” she said. “He was injured less than two weeks before he came here and that’s very fast for someone to go through the acute hospital phase and come into this type of program.

“This is a post-acute rehabilitation program for clients with acquired brain injuries. The big emphasis here is reestablishing the clients back into the community, so, besides doing training here, we do a lot of our training in the community. He’s a very nice guy who’s made some great gains and is super motivated.”

Okamura lives in his own apartment at Casa Colina and spends about eight hours a day doing various forms of therapy, both mental and physical.

“He’s made great progress,” said Connie Inkman, a speech pathologist at Casa Colina. “A speech pathologist looks at how people comprehend language and how they use language and how they think, particularly in regards to language.

“When he came here, he was able to understand language, but he was a little slower in processing. He had an excellent strategy. He would always repeat whatever the information was and, in doing that, his accuracy has been maintained.

“He still notices some mental fatigue. It would be like trying to run a race on a leg that was still healing from being broken, but for the most part, he’s coming along very well.

“I’m sure he’ll be able to [ride again]. In fact, I would bet on him.”

Rehabilitation will probably continue for four months. Toward the end of that time, Okamura may be able to work some horses in the morning.

“I feel real good,” he said. “I’m anxious to get back. There was never any doubt that I was going back to riding, it was just a question of how long I was going to be away from it. I knew I was going to have to go back, but when I do is totally up to the doctors.

“I’ve been so used to getting up in the morning and working horses and then riding in the afternoon and being away from that is tough.”

Able to win with only one of 82 mounts while riding on this circuit for about eight months last year, Okamura said he would like to give it another try when he returns.

“If I can make it here, I’ll stay,” he said. “If I can’t, I’ll go back to the Midwest.”