Los Alamitos Rider Paralyzed

Oscar Andrade, only 21 and already one of quarter horse racing’s leading riders, has been paralyzed from the chest down after the 2-year-old maiden filly he was riding fell on him in a last-race spill Thursday night at Los Alamitos, according to track officials.

“I talked to another jockey who visited him a couple of hours ago, and that’s the bad news,” Albert Christiansen, one of the stewards at the track, said before the first race Friday night.

A Los Alamitos Race Course spokesman, Orlando Gutierrez, said that Andrade was moving his arms on the track immediately after the spill, and both Gutierrez and the filly’s trainer, Jaime Gomez, said that the jockey was using his arms Friday. A spokeswoman for Long Beach Memorial declined to comment on Andrade’s condition Friday night. Gomez said that Elena Andrade, the jockey’s wife, had given birth to their first child--a son--only 10 days ago.

Andrade was riding Ali Mc Cash in Thursday night’s ninth race. Breaking from the No. 2 post in the nine-horse field, they shot to the lead. But about 100 yards into the 300-yard race, Ali Mc Cash apparently suffered a broken back and unseated Andrade. The filly also went down and was later euthanized.

Christiansen sensed something was wrong, even with Ali Mc Cash in front, because the filly was running on her wrong lead foot.

“It came without warning,” Christiansen said. “There was no way you could predict what happened. The horse flipped in the air, and it looked like she came right down on top of the kid.”

Andrade was rushed to the Los Alamitos Medical Center, where he initially was found to have a broken back. He was moved to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Friday for more tests.

Gomez called Andrade “a super-good kid” who “paid attention to what you said and didn’t have any bad habits. I feel so bad about this. I feel very bad.”

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In less than two years, Andrade went from apprentice to the top of the Los Alamitos standings. This year he ranked second with 121 winners. On May 5, Andrade won seven races in one night, setting a quarter horse record.