Getting thrown off your horse mid-race isn’t something new for a jockey. But life is unpredictable, and you never know where the next blow is coming from. While sometimes it can be on the racing tracks, it can also happen years after your racing days are over. Unlucky for Francisco Torres, fate handed him an unfortunate lemon, and the retired jockey can’t help but ask for help from the fans.

On August 7, the seasoned horse racing celebrity, now a jockey agent, was traveling from Shelbyville, Ind., back to Kentucky to work horses the next morning when he was caught in the middle of a bad storm. His Jeep hydroplaned, and Torres was badly injured in the crash on the interstate. To help the retired jockey, Amanda Poston set up a GoFundMe to help with his medical expenses.

“Over the course of his career, he has ridden and shaped horses and riders alike. He’s always been the first to offer a hand of advice, going out of his way to be a stand-up guy and role model youg riders look up to,” the GoFundMe page elaborates why it’s time the community gave back to the jockey who has given his entire life to the betterment of the sport. So far, $6,400 has been raised with the ultimate goal being $100,000 to cover all the expenses.

Even though Torres was ejected from the vehicle during the crash, he still sustained 18 broken ribs, a broken sternum, multiple facial fractures, and injuries to his spine, resulting in his second, third, and fourth lumbar vertebrae being fused together by the surgeon. Goes without saying, it was a critical surgery, and “Cisco” remains intubated. However, the jockey is aware of his surroundings and can communicate with people by writing on a whiteboard.

“Thankfully, no one else was involved in the wreck, it was just him injured,” said Vivian, Francisco’s daughter, who got to learn about the mishap after calling the jockey on his cell and being informed by the police about what went down. “He has a long recovery ahead of him. The doctors are saying that we’re gonna tell him it takes up to two years to fully heal his back, but if it was my dad talking to you, he’d say, ‘Whatever God decides.’ If you know my dad and all the injuries that he has had, he is a person that always comes right back,” she said further.

As a jockey, Torres has over 3,000 wins to his name. After retiring from riding at the age of 47 in 2017, Cisco completed his GED and became a jockey agent. Along with that, he also breezes several horses, including Poster, a 2025 Kentucky Derby hopeful.

While Cisco’s woes are undoubtedly gutwrenching, his woes are of a rare breed. After all, it’s generally the racing track that is the harbinger of bad news for horse riders.

Horse jockeys walk on a thin line all the time

Injuries are part and parcel of the game. Even the most seasoned jockeys sometimes cannot predict how their horses will react to certain situations and are at the mercy of their four-legged partners. Take, for example, Raul Mena. In 2011, the jockey was competing in a race at the Valparaiso Sporting Club Viña del Mar when the horse jumped the rail and sent the former jockey flying. “It was a scary accident. I broke 24 bones in all my body, and I was in a coma for five weeks,” Mena told NBC Washington just days before running at the 2025 Preakness Stakes.

In February, Irish jockey Michael O’Sullivan was injured in a fall at Thurle during a race and was swiftly airlifted to intensive care. O’Sullivan was aboard Wee Charlie in a two-mile handicap chase when he and four other riders got embroiled in a crash at the final fence. The 24-year-old jockey later perished from his injuries, leaving the entire horse racing community in mourning.

In the same month, at the Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong, two pile-ups on the same day left one horse dead and four jockeys injured. In August, during a race at Del Mar, Origami clipped the heels of another horse and sent jockey Tiago Pereira flying, who fell hard on the ground. But these are just one aspect of the sport that makes the whole sport so thrilling to watch!