Johnny Barbra, Aqueduct, Oct. 13, 1940. Herbert Blackner, Sportsman’s Park, Feb. 7, 1944. Roy Fiocchi, Delaware Park, June 16, 1945. George Woolf, Santa Anita Park, Jan. 4, 1946.This is how I began a column written in September 1999, in the melancholy wake of the death of the young jockey Jose Carlos Gonzalez at Fairplex Park. At that point in time, there had been 141 riding fatalities recorded at North American racetracks and codified by the Jockeys’ Guild.Joseph Molbert, Suffolk Downs, June 6, 1949. Richard McCraw, Waterford Park, Oct. 24, 1951. William McCadden, Fair Grounds, Nov. 18, 1953. Raul Contreras, Agua Caliente, Dec. 30, 1957. Jack Westrope, Hollywood Park, June 19, 1958.With the death this week of Jose Luis Flores, Parx Racing – formerly Philadelphia Park – has joined the family of racetracks to have experienced a riding fatality. Clyde H. James died at the Macon County Fair in Decatur, Ill., on Aug. 1, 1962. Phil Grohs was killed at Bay Meadows on Dec. 6, 1965. Freddie Robertson was mortally injured before he could even get to the gate for the second race of the opening-day card at Del Mar on Oct. 4, 1967.“I was walking behind him going to the post,” said Art Sherman, who made his bones as a jockey long before he trained California Chrome. “The horse reared up and flipped. Freddie hit his head on the outside rail. I saw the blood coming out of his ears, and I knew he’d broken his neck.”Robertson was removed by the ambulance, and the race went on as designed. Sherman’s horse won.“It was a pretty empty feeling,” Sherman said. “I saw other jocks killed in my career. I shared a valet in the same corner of the room with Juan Gonzalez.”There is a race named in honor of Juan Gonzalez at Pleasanton, in Northern California, where he died on July 5, 1975. But there is no such memorial for others like Joe Phillippi, killed at Longacres, May 7, 1968; Thomas Smith at Thistledown, Sept. 27, 1969; Earl Knapp at Oaklawn Park, Feb. 19, 1973; or Nelma Henserson at Churchill Downs, June 14, 1976. There is neither rhyme nor reason to fatalities, their patterns presenting a total disregard for family, gender, or geography. Jack Westrope’s older brother Wootsie was killed at Agua Caliente in 1932, the year before Jack made his debut. Alvaro Pineda was killed in the starting gate at Santa Anita on Jan. 18, 1975. Three years later, on May 3, 1978, Alvaro’s brother Robert Pineda was killed at Pimlico.James Smith was killed at Ruidoso Downs on July 11, 1978, Kevin Burns at Arizona’s Graham County Fair on April 18, 1981, Michelle Higley at Centennial on June 29, 1981, Cheryl Hayden at Prescott Downs on Aug. 22, 1981, Amado Credidio at Aqueduct on March 29, 1982. Charles Hinojosa, son of jockey Herbie Hinojosa, was killed at Charles Town on the night of July 21, 1985.“We all drove over from Maryland that day in Chuckie’s gold Corvette,” said Hinojosa’s contemporary, Julie Krone. “Five of us young jocks packed into the car, having a great time. Later that night, when we drove Chuckie’s car back home, all you could hear was the sound of the engine.”Besides the coveted George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, there is an award of tribute named for Avelino Gomez, who was killed at Woodbine on June 21, 1980, and used to be one for Mike Venezia, who died in a fall at Belmont Park on Oct. 13, 1988. Some riders, like Pat Day, Chris McCarron, and Laffit Pincay, have won both, vivid reminders that they survived.Hemingway wasn’t making it up when he wrote about the death of the old jockey in “My Old Man,” as told by the jockey’s son:“I lay down beside my old man, when they carried the stretcher into the hospital room, and hung onto the stretcher and cried and cried, and he looked so white and gone and so awfully dead.”Since writing about the death of J.C. Gonzalez, these riders have been killed on the racetrack:Isaiah Sala, Saskatoon, Aug. 18, 2001. Arnold Ruiz, Beulah Park, Dec. 22, 2001. Michael Rowland, Turfway, Feb. 9, 2004. Christopher Quinn, Fairmount Park, July 19, 2004. Michel Lapensee, Suffolk Downs, Oct. 28, 2005. Josh Radosevich, Beulah Park, Nov. 16, 2005.Juan Campos, Albuquerque, Aug. 23, 2008. Sam Thompson, Los Alamitos, Dec. 25, 2008. Mark Page, Blue Ribbon Downs, Oct. 18, 2009. Mark Villa, Zia Park, Sept. 25, 2010. Jorge Herrera, Pleasanton, July 5, 2012. Juan Saez, Indiana Grand, Oct. 14, 2014. Jesus Munoz, Kiowa County Fair, Sept. 9, 2017. Mario Chavez, Will Rogers Downs, Sept. 30, 2017.To be present at the track when a horse dies is bad enough. The day is forever tainted. But to bear witness to the death of a jockey – a man or a woman going forth to compete for our entertainment – is an experience of agonizing depth. It happened to this writer only once, thank goodness, that winter of 1975. Alvaro Pineda and I came within a day of sharing a birthday. He was as gifted an athlete as the game has ever seen, and his memory remains frozen in time, at age 29, just as Jose Luis Flores will always be 57, a champion in the hearts of his family, friends, and fans.