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I had heard that the story of former jockey Stacy Burton was an amazing and inspirational one, but it wasn’t until I spent some time with her that I realized just how tough, courageous and full of life she really is.

By all accounts, Stacy shouldn’t be alive. The injuries she suffered in a freak racing accident at Prescott Downs in Arizona on Aug. 26, 2000, were severe. The damage to her skull was so bad that a portion of it was surgically removed so her brain would have room to expand from the swelling. She was in a coma for three weeks and doctors had nearly given up hope that she would survive.

But Stacy Burton is a fighter who refused to give up. Nine years later, she is nothing short of a miracle. She can now walk, talk and get out and about with the assistance of a full-time caretaker. Her gait is unsteady, and her speech at first is difficult to understand—the result of a stroke she suffered while in the hospital. Her memory is spotty. She remembers her childhood and her days as a high school economics teacher, which she left in her 30s to pursue a career as a jockey. She can’t remember anything about the terrible accident or any of her time in horse racing.

But she is sharp as a tack mentally. Brad Cummings and I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with Stacy and her longtime companion, Jan Hortyk (pictured, left, with Stacy Burton), at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz., during the Paulick Report’s BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive to raise money for Breeders’ Cup Charities to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

Jan did a lot of the talking, filling in the details of Stacy’s amazing recovery, her will to live and her intense dedication (she does therapy seven days a week to improve her physical and verbal skills). At one point, I asked Jan and Stacy how much the months in the hospital and the aftercare cost. “A whole shitload,” Stacy said.

“Thank God she was a member of the Jockeys’ Guild,” Jan said. “Their $1-million accident policy really helped, but it didn’t take long for it to max out. She was in the hospital for eight months and at one point weighed just 88 pounds.”

Stacy’s story was profiled by the cable network Animal Planet. The program sensationalized the accident, repeating over and over the video of a loose horse running the wrong way up the stretch and smashing head-on into the horse Stacy was riding. It was an ugly accident caused by a horse that slipped and fell rounding the first turn, then took off running back up the stretch. Stacy was sitting just off the leaders, and when one of the jockeys ahead of her saw the loose horse he switched to the outside, leaving a hole for her to go through. It was right in the path of the loose horse. The collision was so violent both horses died.

Estaban “Steve” Gomez, the rider who swung his horse out of harm’s way is haunted by the accident. “I have felt so much guilt,” he told Jan and Stacy. Gomez said the muddy track was unsafe and felt he should have told the stewards he wouldn’t ride because of the conditions.

“I blame no one,” Stacy said.

Film of the accident is used by Chris McCarron to teach aspiring jockeys at the North American Riding Academy “to show them what can happen in a horse race,” Jan said.

There was no riding school when Stacy decided to switch careers, but it wasn’t done on a whim or without planning. She grew up riding horses, and a visit to Yakima Meadows racetrack in Washington as a 6-year-old inspired her to someday become a jockey.  She spent several years preparing, exercising horses on the track, took a leave of absence from her teaching job in 1999 and began to ride at county fairs in Utah before moving back to Arizona to ride at Turf Paradise and the Arizona fairs. She also spent some time at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia before returning to Arizona.

Stacy and Jan traveled to Arlington Park this summer to take part in the “Dining With the Dynasty” fundraiser to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Racetrack Chaplaincy of America. The event brought to Chicago a number of Hall of Fame jockeys and several disabled former riders who depend on the PDJF for assistance, Fans or horsemen who purchased tickets got a chance to spend some time with them. “Everyone was so nice to me. It was wonderful,” Stacy said.

“When Stacy got hurt there was nothing like this,” Jan said. She said the PDJF has come a long way in a relatively short time, thanks in large part to Nancy LaSala, its tireless executive director. “Nancy is really fighting for these jockeys,” Jan said.

Stacy is dispensed medication regularly through a hockey puck-sized device doctors implanted in her midsection. “It ruined my bikini line,” Stacy joked.

She and Jan have shared a lot of laughs and many tears throughout Stacy’s remarkable recovery. At one point in our conversation, Jan was trying to come up with a word to describe a certain procedure when Stacy interrupted her and said “simulation.”

“Spoken like a girl with a brain injury,” Jan said.

Jan wants to put the entire experience into a book she hopes will inspire both caregivers and those who have suffered crippling injuries or illnesses. “I know it can help people out,” she said.

The BREEDERS’ CUP OR BUST fundraising drive is in the home stretch, as we arrive at Santa Anita on Thursday afternoon following a brief stopover in Las Vegas. Meeting people like Stacy Burton who have shown such courage in the face of disabling injuries has, without question, been the highlight of our journey.

Thanks to Suffolk Downs, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, trainer Bob Baffert and the  Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas for sponsoring this segment of the drive. Previous sponsors were Robert and Blythe Clay’s Three Chimneys Farm, Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stable, numerous affiliates of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, Zia Park, Global Gaming Solutions and Remington Park; Terry Finley and his West Point Thoroughbred partners; Tommy Simon’s Vinery; Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm; TVG; Bill Casner and WinStar Farm; Barry Irwin of Team Valor International; Kate Lantaff of Tahoma Stud; William S. Farish’s Lane’s End, Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, Brereton C. Jones’ Airdrie Stud and the Young family’s Overbrook Farm. A special thanks to our media partner TVG and TVG’s online community for playing such a big part in promoting the drive.