Cedillo won't need surgery for fracture
?q=100)
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Abel Cedillo sustained a fractured bone in his neck in a one-horse spill shortly after the start of the fourth race at Del Mar on Sunday, the rider said Monday morning.
In a phone interview, Cedillo said he remains hospitalized and has been informed by doctors that he will not need surgery. He said he will undergo four to six weeks of physical therapy.
“I’ve got a little pain right now,” Cedillo said.
Cedillo was injured after his mount, Get the Gold, clipped heels when the runner to his outside, Silver N Black, drifted inside sharply at the start.
Cedillo fell heavily and remained on the track until members of the gate crew quickly carried him into the adjacent winner’s circle.
Cedillo said on Monday that he should not have been moved so quickly from the racetrack.
“I think it was a mistake,” he said. “They shouldn’t have touched me. They should have stopped the race.”
Because Cedillo was unseated in front of the stands, track stewards said they were closely monitoring the rider’s condition and were discussing a potential abandonment of the race when gate crew members moved the rider.
Had Cedillo not been moved, the race would have been canceled. The field of eight remaining runners passed near the area in which Cedillo had fallen as they neared the finish.
“Our number one priority is the safety for the rider and the horse,” track president Josh Rubinstein said on Sunday in response to the action of the gate crew.
In the winner’s circle, Cedillo was attended to by ambulance personnel who fitted the rider with a neck brace and placed him on a stretcher. Cedillo was immediately transported to a local hospital.
The race, run at a mile for maidens, had two disqualifications, one related to the incident at the start.
Dont Fight the Fed finished first by a nose over Cowboy Mike, but was disqualified and placed second for making contact with Cowboy Mike in early stretch.
In a unanimous decision, the stewards said the contact Dont Fight the Fed made with Cowboy Mike and the margin at the finish were the reasons for the disqualification.
The stewards also disqualified Silver N Black from third to unplaced because of the incident at the start involving Get the Gold.
Cedillo, 34, has won 25 races from 203 mounts this year. He had a slow start to 2023, winning 11 races through the end of May, but greater success in recent months, winning eight races in June and six races this month. He had two wins over the weekend at Del Mar, which opened its summer season Friday.
Cedillo won Sunday’s second race, a main track sprint for $20,000 claimers, on Colonel Vargo.
“Hopefully, I’ll come back strong,” Cedillo said.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.