The present should go on!
Richie Sambora rocked out on the Kentucky Derby this yr — however he was combating via a critical harm, a supply tells PEOPLE.
Only one week earlier than his efficiency on the Unbridled Eve Derby Gala on Could 2, Sambora, 65, fractured his hand throughout a recreation of contact soccer in his native New Jersey, the place he’s been staying as he cares for his mother, Joan.
“He caught a ball and a few man gave him a contact proper right into a curb. He was fully swollen, and fractured his hand in two locations,” the supply says. “He’ll endure surgical procedure subsequent week.”
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Nonetheless, when Sambora commits, he commits — and he wasn’t about to let his harm cease him from giving the folks what they wished. Regardless of “excessive” ache, the previous Bon Jovi guitarist carried out 4 of the band’s classics, all of which he co-wrote: “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “It’s My Life,” “I’ll Be There for You” and “Needed Lifeless or Alive.”
“He killed it. Richie simply rocked the home. The followers have been going nuts,” the supply says. “[But] he was in a lot ache. When he informed the physician he was going to the Derby, the physician mentioned, ‘You’re out of your thoughts.’ However he mentioned, ‘See ya! I’m going.’ That’s the sort of man Richie is. He’s a person of his phrase.”
Sambora, who launched 5 new singles final yr, has been attending the Kentucky Derby for 11 years — and every year, he’s made it some extent to offer again. This yr, he auctioned off a custom-designed guitar and classes on the gala, which fetched $35,000.
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Proceeds went to quite a few charities chosen by the Unbridled Charitable Basis, together with this yr’s main beneficiary Blessings in a Backpack, which mobilizes communities, people and sources to offer meals on the weekends for elementary faculty children who would possibly in any other case go hungry. The star has raised greater than $700,000 for charity on the Derby during the last decade.
“I had a fantastic gig at Unbridled and that is my eleventh Derby,” he mentioned in an interview with FanDuel. “That is a tremendous factor.”
Sovereignty received the 2025 Kentucky Derby. Different stars who turned out for the Derby this yr included Simone Biles, Selma Blair, Man Fieri and his son Hunter, and Larry Birkhead and daughter Dannielynn.
