Recount’s March 22 victory at Oaklawn was noteworthy because the gelding surpassed $700,000 in career earnings. It was noteworthy for jockey Alex Canchari, too, only for a much more personal reason.
Recount represented Canchari’s first victory since his older brother, jockey Patrick Canchari, was critically injured several days earlier in an automobile accident in Arizona.
“It was for him,” Alex Canchari said. “There’s been two times in my life that I’ve cried after a race. One was when I won my first race at Santa Anita and when I won that race the other day because I really felt like he was riding with me. I came from behind in that race, and I had such a clear trip. That was a special one.”
According to a GoFundMe page created March 18, Patrick Canchari was headed to work when he was involved in the March 17 accident. He was transported to HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center in Phoenix and diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and a fractured C4 vertebra (neck), sedated and placed on a ventilator. Canchari, 29, had ridden three winners this year at Turf Paradise in Phoenix before the accident.
Alex Canchari said his family is in Arizona, but have been unable to see Patrick because the hospital is on government “lockdown” (COVID-19). Alex Canchari has remained in Hot Springs and continues to ride, although he took off all his mounts March 19 because he was “devastated” over the accident. The brothers hail from a racing family and grew up in the shadow of Canterbury Park in suburban Minneapolis.
“We did everything together,” Alex Canchari said. “I used to do my online school when he was an apprentice and I used to watch every race at Hawthorne. I would sit in the grandstand and watch all his races and we lived in the dorms together. We got our first jobs at the track when I was 10 years old and he was 12. We grew up playing hockey every day. He taught me everything.”
Canchari said Thursday morning that his brother is scheduled to be transported to a rehabilitation facility in the next few days, adding he “opened his eyes” and “looked at us” during a Facetime video call Wednesday.
“That’s a good sign,” Alex Canchari said.
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