Willie McCarthy, the champion Steeplechase jockey of 2014, suffered a bad laceration to his upper chest when he was thrown from his mount in the fifth race at Parx on Tuesday, according to track officials.

McCarthy was aboard Bishop's Castle in the $30,000 handicap, when he was thrown after his mount bobbled while landing following the second jump in the 2 1/16-mile race. McCarthy was in third position in the 12-horse field when the accident occurred, and he was struck in the chest by the hoof of a trailing horse.

McCarthy was down on the turf for a long while after the spill but had full motion in his arms and legs. The outrider instructed the field to go inside the jump where McCarthy was injured when they made a second lap of the course.

McCarthy, a 34-year-old native of Ireland, was taken to Arias - Jefferson Health hospital in Philadelphia., where he was given stitches and listed in stable condition.

McCarthy won 23 jump races in 2014, the most of any rider, and also led in earnings. He was six for 44 coming into Tuesday's card. He finished third of nine in a $25,000 maiden race in his first ride of the afternoon.

Jockey Darren Nagle won both of those races. He won the maiden race on Mutasaawy ($5.60) and the handicap on Dapper Dan ($8.60). The first of the day's three Steeplechase races, a maiden event, was won by Mutin ($9), with jockey Ross Geraghty aboard.

McCarthy is the second champion rider to be injured this year. Five-time leading rider Paddy Young, 41, fractured his skull and broke his neck in a fall in the Radnor Hunt Cup in Malvern, Pa.,on May 20.

PHOTO: Darren Nagle goes over a jump on Dapper Dan in race 5 at Parx on Tuesday. They won the $30,000 handicap by two lengths.

Photo courtesy of Equiphoto