Recovering from injury, Tyler Conner says he won't ride again

As jockey Tyler Conner recovers from injuries sustained in a July 25 fall at Colonial Downs, he said he doesn’t expect to return to race riding.

Conner broke his C1 vertebrae, at the top of his spine, and fractured his T5 in the middle section. He also bruised his spinal cord.

“I was fully paralyzed for a small amount of time, and everything’s kind of slowly coming back,” Conner said in a video posted on X. “I could move my legs pretty quick and started walking pretty soon, but everything feels like it’s asleep, especially my hands. And my left hand is basically useless at the moment, it really doesn’t hardly work at all.” 

He expressed his appreciation for donations to a GoFundMe drive started by Hilary Pridham, an assistant trainer with Mike Stidham. As of Tuesday morning, it had raised $60,854.

“The support has been unbelievable with that. I would never have expected that amount of support.”

Conner said he has "no idea: what’s next for his career.

“I have zero desire to ride a racehorse again,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to quit for years, and this gives me a good reason to now. I’ve just got to focus on getting healthy and figure out what I want to do.”

Conner said he expects to start therapy this week “and hopefully make some progress.”