Injured Sutherland Calls Geese a Danger at Gulfstream

Jockey Chantal Sutherland continues to recover from a serious shoulder injury suffered at Gulfstream Park May 6 when she was thrown by a horse spooked by geese on the track.

Sutherland rode second-time starter Haruki , a son of Karakontie  , to a fourth-place finish in the English Channel Stakes but during the gallop out the gelding saw two geese flapping their wings nearby and sent the jockey flying.

"He got a little tired from the eighth pole to the wire and then he kind of caught his second wind. He galloped out pretty strong, so I said, 'I'll just let him gallop out. He's going to get tired again,'" Sutherland said of the Joe Orseno-trained Haruki. "Sometimes pulling them up can be exhausting, too.

"Just around the seven-eighth pole, the two geese were in the middle of the track, walking across the turf. I saw them, so I grabbed a hold of the horse to pull on him and slow him down, and then he saw the geese after I saw them because they started flapping their wings. He totally put the brakes on and that just made me slingshot out of the saddle."

Sutherland landed on the ground. With other horses galloping out and approaching, she hurriedly scampered for cover under the rail. She thought she was fine…until her left shoulder began showing troubling signs.

"I looked down at my arm, and it was down by my knee, dangling," Sutherland said.

The humerus bone had broken clean off the shoulder. Surgery was required to insert screws and repair the arm.

"I've never had a broken arm," said the 47-year-old Sutherland, a rider for 24 years. "I've had a broken knee, broke my leg, and I've broken my collarbone but not my humerus. It's like breaking your femur. It's a big bone."

Sutherland spoke May 19 from Baltimore, where she had hoped to be riding Willy Boi , a gelded son of Uncaptured , in the Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3), and Super Chow , a son of Lord Nelson , in the Chick Lang Stakes (G3) on Preakness Day, May 20, at Pimlico Race Course. Paco Lopez picked up those mounts.

She admitted that the shoulder injury has caused her to consider retirement. Her Plan B includes using a real estate license in California, working on getting a similar license in Florida, and utilizing an interior design license.

The Canada native also expressed an interest in bloodstock, as well as welcoming the chance to work on televised racing broadcasts or producing her own podcast consisting of interviews with icons in horse racing.

"But you never want that to be right now," said Sutherland, who has taken yoga classes during her recuperation to remain fit. "I wish and I hope I feel really well, and I can continue to ride for two or three more years."

As for the presence of geese at Gulfstream Park, Sutherland said she wants the track to take action. She suggested relocating the birds or simply stopping feeding them, which she said one trainer does, with the hope they will find a new home.

"I think you need to relocate them," she said. "Or can they hire someone during the races to make sure they don't cross the track? Some tracks have chasers. I don't have the answer. It's definitely dangerous. Any one of us could have gotten killed."

Asked about taking possible legal action, Sutherland said she was taking "one day at a time" and expressed how much she loves riding at the South Florida track and how well she has been treated in the past by people who work there.

"What I really want to see is them do something about it," she said. "If they don't do something about it, then I find it hard to want to ride there because I'll have (post-traumatic stress disorder) about the birds."

She also spoke with Jockeys' Guild president/ CEO Terry Meyocks about the accident and the geese.

"I did talk to management and they're addressing it," said Meyocks, who previously worked at the New York Racing Association in an executive position. "I've gone through the same situation in New York at Aqueduct with geese and stuff like that.

"It is an issue. Gulfstream, I believe, is trying to work it out to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Meyocks expressed confidence that Gulfstream Park officials will do what is necessary.

"They always have," he said. "They're concerned about the safety of the horse just like everybody else in the industry."

Efforts to reach several Gulfstream Park officials for comment were unsuccessful.