Finger Lakes cancels 5 races after Gómez is hurt in gate spill

The last five races on Wednesday’s card at Finger Lakes were canceled after a gate incident left one rider injured and questions went unanswered about what happened afterward.

Óscar Gómez, a fixture in the track’s jockey colony since 2009, suffered a broken ankle when he was dismounted from 7-year-old gelding Two Step Slew in post 1 just before the start of the fourth race.

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“Two Step Slew reared up badly,” track announcer Tony Calo said in a post to X.com, formerly Twitter. “Gómez was sent flying and landed hard on the ground. ... Óscar was transferred into the ambulance, and we will be in a delay.”

Two Step Slew was scratched immediately from the $5,000 claiming race, which could not go forward until another ambulance arrived at the track. The seven horses still in the field were sent back to the paddock with their riders to wait out the delay.

About 15 minutes after the gate incident, Calo announced the scratch of 8-year-old gelding Bustin the Rules. Moments later, the fourth race was canceled altogether. Within another 15 minutes, a notice went up on the track’s video feed that said, “The remainder of today’s card has been canceled.”

Responding Wednesday evening to questions raised on social media, Calo said, “We cannot run a race without an ambulance. Other issues contributed to (the) card’s cancellation. I can’t divulge much more.”

A call to the Finger Lakes racing office Wednesday night went to voice mail. Racing does not resume at the Farmington, N.Y., track until Monday.

Jockeys’ Guild president and CEO Terry Meyocks said he was aware of what happened at Finger Lakes but that his information was “not concrete.” He expected to know more Thursday morning.