Fresu sidelined for weeks with injury

Antonio Fresu, one of the top riders in California, will be sidelined for as long as six weeks after sustaining an injury to the small toe on his left foot in an incident at Santa Anita on Sunday.

On Thursday, Fresu said that the toe was broken and severely cut when Anmer Hall struck the inside rail on the hillside turf course. The incident occurred when Fresu was forced to check his mount after one of the horses he was following drifted to the inside.

Fresu quickly pulled up Anmer Hall after the incident. Fresu was hospitalized on Sunday afternoon.

Fresu said he is hoping for a more rapid return to riding than mid-February. Earlier this week, Fresu underwent a procedure to have a stabilizing wire inserted in his foot to aid healing, he said.

“They say six weeks, but I’m trying to see someone else and do some different therapy and speed up the recovery,” he said. “I’ll try to come back as soon as possible.”

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Fresu said he was “moving around” to a small extent on Wednesday.

“I’m pretty sore,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday’s opening-day program, Fresu won two races, including the Grade 2 Mathis Mile on Hiding in Honduras.

“I was having a great day and then that happened,” he said.

Fresu missed his final three mounts, including the ride on Ambaya, who won the Grade 1 American Oaks with Kazushi Kimura aboard as a late replacement.

The 34-year-old Fresu has taken a prominent role in California in the last year. He led the standings at the Santa Anita spring meeting from mid-April to mid-June last year, and he finished second in the standings at the 2025 Del Mar summer and autumn meetings.

Fresu rode briefly in the United Arab Emirates in December before returning to California for the start of the current Santa Anita meeting.

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