Canchari down but not out

Alex Canchari has come so close to winning riding titles at Canterbury Park. Last year, he fell one win short of leading rider Dean Butler, and the same thing happened in 2014. In 2013, Canchari finished the Canterbury meet two wins out of the top spot.

This summer, Canchari had just come back from a three-day suspension to win six races on June 15 and June 16 at Canterbury and take a one-win lead in the rider standings when, through his own doing, he compromised his chance of winning his first Canterbury title.

Canchari had just taken a tough-beat second and was walking back to the jockeys’ room when he punched a wall in frustration. The blow broke a bone in his hand, and Canchari on Tuesday was wearing a cast.

Canchari said he underwent surgery during which a pin was inserted to help heal the fracture. He has been fitted with a second cast, has started physical therapy, and hopes not to miss too much action.

“Thank God for the owners here, Barry and Joni Butzow,” Canchari said. “They hooked me up with a really good hand specialist.”

Chuck Costanzo, Canchari’s agent, said Canchari is hoping to be cleared to ride again by July 8, when he is scheduled to pick up stakes mounts on a rich card at Prairie Meadows in Iowa.

“The doctors said it could be two weeks, just depending on how he can take the pain,” Costanzo said.
With Canchari down, Costanzo and jockey Quincy Hamilton, who had been riding at Prairie Meadows, formed a Canterbury partnership. Costanzo said Hamilton planned to stay at Canterbury through the summer.

Through Sunday, Orlando Mojica was leading rider at the meet with 26 wins, two more than Jareth Loveberry and eight more than Mojica, who for now can only watch from the sidelines.

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