Updated: Veteran jockey Flores not expected to survive injuries

Veteran rider Jose Luis Flores, who won 4,650 races and served as a fixture in Pennsylvania’s jockey colony, is on life support after suffering an injury Monday at Parx Racing, according to Paulick Report. He is not expected to survive.

It was originally reported by Pennsylvania horsemen and Steve Byk, who hosts the popular "At the Races" radio show, that Flores had succumbed to his injuries overnight.

The Daily Racing Form reported Monday that Flores was in a coma at a Philadelphia hospital after his mount broke down in Parx’s ninth race, a startler allowance, while in a duel for the lead.

Flores, who was 56, has a wife, Joanne, and children Juan, Junior and Julian.

The native of Peru also rode in Panama before relocating to Florida in the early 1980s. He knew no English and found it difficult to acclimate, so he learned the new language “out of necessity,” according to his Pennsylvania racing bio, while living with a police officer who also knew Spanish.

Flores rode at Minnesota’s Canterbury Downs before settling in Pennsylvania, where he won his first riding title in 1992 at Penn National. He went on to become Parx’s all-time leading money earner.

The Bensalem, Penn., track will not run its Tuesday card out of respect for Flores.

“He is a true gentleman rider,” said Dave Yanuzzi, Flores’ agent, on the Penn racing bio. “He will ride a 60-1 shot as hard as he’d ride a favorite, and work for a two-horse outfit just as soon as a 20-horse barn. He’s ridden for just about every trainer on the grounds.”

Flores won his biggest race in 1999, the Grade 3, $200,000 Philadelphia Park Breeders’ Cup, aboard Loaded Gun. This year, according to Equibase, he posted 12 victories from 112 starters with 25 other finishes on the board.

A number of horsemen remembered Flores early Tuesday: