Doocy unlikely to make Oaklawn

Jockey Tim Doocy has set no timeframe for his return to riding after sustaining multiple fractures in a training accident earlier this month, but said there is a "pretty good chance" he will miss the Oaklawn Park meet that opens Jan. 15.

"I'm just going to take it a day at a time," he said Tuesday.

Doocy, 54, fractured the ankle, kneecap and tibia on his left side Dec. 7, when a horse he was pulling up from a workout at Oaklawn was hit by an oncoming pony chasing a loose horse. Chisum Ewing, the outrider on the pony, escaped serious injury, while both horses involved in the accident died on impact. Doocy said he underwent ankle surgery the same day, then about a week later had surgery on his kneecap and a rod was placed in his tibia. He is recuperating at his residence in Hot Springs, Ark.

"I'm doing as good as I could be doing," he said.

Doocy said he is presently moving around with a walker. When he heals from the surgeries, he will begin a physical rehabilitation program. This past spring, Doocy became just the 24th rider in North America to win 5,000 races. He accomplished the feat at Oaklawn.

Doocy, a native of Minnesota who grew up in Iowa, has won riding titles at Longacres, Oaklawn, Prairie Meadows, and Remington Park. He rode his first career winner in 1974.