Belmont Park: Castro being kept in hospital for observation

ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Eddie Castro was listed in stable condition at a Long Island hospital Saturday afternoon and was able to move all of his extremities following a spill in Saturday’s fourth race at Belmont Park.

Castro was to remain in North Shore University Hospital overnight for further tests, according to New York Racing Association officials. X-rays taken on his neck were negative.

Castro was aboard Royal Brush, who suffered a fatal injury to his left foreleg at the sixteenth pole of Saturday’s fourth race, a first-level allowance. Royal Brush had to be euthanized due to a fractured left cannon bone injury.

Castro, 26, was placed in a neck brace and was removed from the track on a stretcher and taken to the hospital by ambulance complaining of back pain.

Castro, the regular rider of the Grade 1-winning filly It’s Tricky, was scheduled to ride Malibu Glow in Sunday’s $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park, his only mount of the day.

Castro is scheduled to begin serving a three-day suspension on Wednesday.