Pincay, Santa Anita Settle

Laffit Pincay, the world’s winningest rider with 9,530 victories, has settled a lawsuit with Santa Anita regarding the spill that ended his career nearly three years ago.

In the suit, Pincay alleged that Santa Anita was negligent in treating injuries he suffered in a race March 1, 2003. The Hall of Fame jockey, now 59, suffered serious fractures in his neck after Trampus Too, the horse he was riding in the day’s fifth race, clipped the heels of Rainman’s Request, who was ridden by Tony Farina, and fell.

Details of the settlement were not released, but Neil Papiano, Pincay’s attorney, said the monetary amount was “over seven figures.”

“Laffit and I are both very pleased and happy with it,” Papiano said.

Papiano said a lawsuit still was pending against Huntington Ambulance, the ambulance crew, the physician’s assistant who examined Pincay in the immediate aftermath of the injury at the track’s first-aid station and the doctor who was absent that day. That lawsuit is scheduled for trial May 9 in Pasadena.

The fractures weren’t revealed until about four days after the spill, when Pincay had X-rays taken because of constant pain and stiffness in his neck. He wound up being hospitalized and had to wear a halo for two months. Doctors told him it was too dangerous for him to continue riding and he announced his retirement near the end of April 2003.