Rejuvenated and Healthy, Cohen Set to Return to New York

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.–When David Cohen stepped into the paddock for a Feb. 1, 2014 race at Aqueduct, he had no reason to believe that his career and his life were about to be turned upside down. Cohen may have never reached the top echelon of the New York riding colony, but he was a steady force, good enough to be sixth in the nation in wins in 2009, good enough to have won the 2012 GI Travers S. in a dead-heat aboard Golden Ticket (Speightstown). That day in February and that race were supposed to be nothing out of the ordinary.

Instead, in a freak accident, he was kicked by his mount before getting astride the horse, fracturing his tibia and fibula. Afterward, it was reported that Cohen would return in about eight weeks. It turned out to be more than 3 1/2 years. The injuries he suffered that day were the first in a number of setbacks, both on and off-track problems, that put his career on hold.

Cohen would eventually come to the realization that he had to step away from the sport until he was ready to push the reset button. That's exactly what he did Nov. 30, when returning to the game and riding in a race at the Fair Grounds. He didn't win that day, but not much has gone wrong since. He entered the final week of the Oaklawn meet with 35 winners and a firm grip on third place in the standings.

It has been a better-than-expected showing for a rider sidelined for so long, but a bigger test awaits. Some four years and two months after the paddock injury, Cohen will start accepting mounts at Aqueduct Apr. 18. He hopes not just to re-establish himself as a winning rider on what may the toughest circuit in the U.S., but to be a better, more successful version of the jockey that has been missing from the NYRA circuit for what seems like an eternity.

“I don't think 'I am this caliber of a rider so I should be one, two or three in the standings or in the top five,'” he said. ” Really, I just came back knowing my ability and that if I got support from the owners and the trainers with the proper horses good things would happen. If I'm in the top 10, top five, top three, that would just be an extra blessing. I'm just happy to be back riding again and to be healthy, mentally and physically. I know that if I'm given enough opportunities the sky's the limit.”

Cohen came back about nine months after suffering the initial injury, but lasted less than a weak as the tibia and fibula fractures had not healed to the point where he was truly ready to return to riding.

In the midst of his injury problems, his father, Morry, was seriously ill and would eventually succumb to complications related to cancer and heart problems.

“Growing up, my father had been in the business as an owner and a trainer,” Cohen said. “As a family we would go to Del Mar for the summer. My brother, sister and mom would go to the beach and I would go to the racetrack as a young kid. I was glued to my father's side. He had an auto body shop and I went there to work every day. When I became a jockey he went to work with me all the time. He went around with me everywhere, to Dubai, to Japan. He go to experience everything with me. We were as close as can be.”

Still dealing with his father's death, Cohen was hit with a second tragedy. His sister, Dana, passed away about 18 months after Morry Cohen died. Cohen said his sister accidently hit her head. Believing she was fine, she went to sleep instead of receiving treatment and never woke up. The cause of death was swelling on her brain.

“Even though she was my older sister, I played that older brother role,” he said. “She and I were very close. The two closest people in my immediate family were taken away from within a year and a half of one another.”

Though Cohen had healed from his racing injuries, he was struggling mentally in the aftermath of the loss of his father and sister. He knew what he needed in order to feel better, and it was time.

The point came where he was ready to return to riding, but he knew that if he did not plot his comeback carefully he would run the risk of being an afterthought after being away for so long. His first move was to connect with trainer Robertino Diodoro. The connection was made by his agent, Bill Castle, who also represents jockey Angel Arroyo, who rides most of Diodoro's horses in New York. Cohen began by galloping horses for Diodoro and would launch his comeback in late November. His emphasis, however, was on Oaklawn.

“I probably could have returned six months earlier, around August or September,” Cohen said. “We really wanted to come back in the right and proper way and we really focused on Oaklawn Park to be the place to return.”

That he had Diodoro behind him was a major plus. The trainer has one of the most productive barns at Oaklawn and is second in the trainer's standings behind Steve Asmussen.

“David started with us working horses at the Evangeline training center and I could see what good shape he was in and that he was very focused,” Diodoro said. “Watching him ride, seeing how good his attitude was and how fit he was, I wasn't really concerned that he hadn't ridden in so long. At the same time, I knew there would be a little bit of rust to start with. There was. But he has done a great job for us. I watch him closely because he rides 95% of our horses and I root for him when he's riding for someone else in a race we're not in. As the meet has gone along, he has gotten better and better.”

Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga will be a lot tougher than Oaklawn for Cohen, but he says he's encouraged by the fact he has heard from so many New York trainers who have called or texted to wish him well and to say they look forward to giving him mounts. He says he has heard from, among others, David Jacobson, Linda Rice, Rudy Rodriguez and Todd Pletcher. He wants them to know that this David Cohen will be not only a good rider, but someone who has learned to overcome adversity and has grown and matured from the experience.

“If you live long enough, eventually you will go through something and you will have a hurdle to overcome,” he said. “It's great to learn that you can take it and come back mentally stronger. With what I've been through, I've grown a lot over the last three, four years. In life, things happen for very specific reasons. Something good has come out of something that was so negative in my life. That has helped make me the rider I am now and it has helped make me a better person.”