Top jockey's daughter admits DWI death

MINEOLA, N.Y., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- The daughter of Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Jose Santos faces prison in New York for killing a woman in a drunken crash in November.

Sophia Santos of Albertson, N.Y., pleaded guilty Monday in an agreement that sets the sentence at 3 1/2 to 9 years, Newsday reported. She was the first person in New York to be charged under the state's new aggravated vehicular homicide law, which increased the penalty for drunken driving fatalities to a maximum of 8 1/3 to 25 years.

Santos admitted that she was driving her Mercedes even though her blood alcohol was three times the legal limit on Nov. 11, 2007, the report said. She struck Nancy Tumminello's Chevrolet broadside, killing Tumminello's cousin, Virginia Casazza Urgo, 62, of Valley Stream, N.Y., who was sitting in the back seat.

Members of Urgo's family cried during the hearing.

"It's been an uphill battle all the way, and this was a slap on the wrist," her husband, John, said after the hearing.

Santos' father won the 2003 Derby on Funny Cide.