Flores and Smith join jock contest

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - David Flores and Mike Smith will replace Eddie Delahoussaye and Kent Desormeaux in the National Thoroughbred Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship at Lone Star Park on June 21 after the original invitees canceled because of scheduling problems.

Robby Albarado, who fractured a knuckle in a recent spill at Churchill Downs, said that he still plans to make the competition.

Completing the current lineup are John Velazquez, who went down in a spill at Belmont Park on Saturday, Victor Espinoza, Edgar Prado, Russell Baze, Laffit Pincay Jr., Jorge Chavez, Chris McCarron, Alex Solis, and Corey Lanerie.

Delahoussaye bowed out of the Jockey Championship, run on a Friday night, for travel reasons, according to Lone Star officials. He has a stakes commitment in Southern California on Saturday, June 22, then will travel to Louisiana on Sunday, June 23, to be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Making the trip to Lone Star would require two flights east in three days from his home base in Southern California.

Desormeaux will miss the competition because he has a riding engagement in Japan. The panel that selected the original cast of riders named the replacements.