Horse Trailer Accident results in death

After fatal Turnpike accident, insiders say riding in trailer with horses is common
By Eliot Caroom/For the Star-Ledger
November 25, 2009, 5:25PM

LINDEN — After the death of a 22-year-old Guatemalan man who fell out of a horse trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike, police said it was illegal for the man to be riding with horses. But horse racing industry insiders say the practice is common and absolutely necessary.

A State Police spokesman, Detective Brian Polite, confirmed Wednesday that it was illegal for workers to have been riding with the eight horses in the trailer that carried Jorge Lopez from Monmouth Park to the Meadowlands for a race Monday. Lopez died after he fell from the trailer onto the highway in Linden, near exit 13.

Polite said no traffic tickets or charges have been issued in the case, but an investigation is ongoing.

Robert Rodriguez, a chaplain at Monmouth Park racetrack, said it is a long-standing practice for workers to ride in trailers sitting or standing next to the racehorses during trips to the track.

A trainer who operates out of both Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands said Wednesday that it is essential for racehorses to be accompanied on trips.

“Especially like that particular van, with eight horses side by side, you can’t send them to a race (without handlers),” said trainer Gary Contessa. “They’re competitors. It’s like taking the entire offensive line of the Oakland Raiders and sending them with the defensive line of the team they’re about to play and sending them two hours on the road.”

Contessa said about half of racehorses travel badly and many are claustrophobic. He said the consequences of an upset horse are dire.

“It’s very hard to calm a horse down when it gets scared,” Contessa said. “They can break chains. They can break through walls. If somebody said, ‘Because of this incident, we cannot send a caretaker with the horses,’ there would be catastrophic consequences.”

Lopez, came to New Jersey from Guatemala about a year ago and worked cleaning stables and walking racehorses about five hours a day. He sent his earnings home weekly to support his mother, father, two sisters and a brother. He died at around noon Monday on the northbound lanes of the Turnpike.

The driver of the truck carrying the horse trailer, who police did not identify, didn’t realize Lopez had fallen out and continued driving to the Meadowlands, where he saw that Lopez was gone, according to authorities.

State Police searched the truck and trailer at the Meadowlands but found no signs of foul play.

Contessa said he had heard of broken toes and horse bites suffered on the road, but never a similar fatal incident.

“I have never heard of anyone falling out of a van at full speed,” Contessa said, who did not know Lopez. “Maybe those guys were roughhousing, or maybe the door latch just broke, but I’ve never heard of someone falling out.”

He also said that in his experience, most horse trailers have a buzzer that horseminders could press to tell the driver to stop.

A memorial service for Lopez will be held at the Monmouth Park track after funeral arrangements are made for his body to be returned to Guatemala, but no date or time has yet been set.