Frey needs knee surgery, out until next summer

ARCADIA, Calif. – Kyle Frey, the champion apprentice jockey of 2011, will be sidelined until next summer after sustaining a knee injury when he was unseated in a post parade at Del Mar in July.

Frey is scheduled to meet with an orthopedic surgeon on Thursday to discuss surgical options for a torn anterior cruciate ligament, according to his agent, Bill Sadoo.

“If he makes it back in a year, it would be good,” Sadoo said. “Maybe next summer at Del Mar. We’ll be trying for that.”

The incident occurred on July 27 before the start of the final race on a Friday evening, when Frey was unseated as the field approached the starting gate. Initially, Frey underwent physical therapy with the hope he would return to riding in August before the severity of the injury was realized, Sadoo said.

Frey, 26, has won 20 races this year, including two graded stakes on the 3-year-old Blended Citizen, whom he rode to a ninth in the Belmont Stakes.