Injured jockey Mena expecting to miss six months

Jockey Miguel Mena said he is likely to miss at least six months of racing because of injuries to his right ankle and heel sustained in a spill in the eighth race March 15 at Fair Grounds.

Mena was injured when his mount, A Fashion Affair, crashed into Ellashoo after that filly broke down catastrophically while leading on the far turn of a dirt sprint. A Fashion Affair was racing inside and just behind the stricken animal.

“I was following the horse on the lead,” Mena said Thursday by phone. “I had no time to do anything.”

Mena said he’s unsure exactly how he was injured, but when he looked down at his right leg, he knew his ankle was broken. That injury, which involves two fractures, can be repaired with the surgical insertion of stabilizing screws, and while serious, “it’s not too big a deal,” according to Mena. The more consequential problem is a severe heel fracture.

Mena fractured his calcaneus, the large bone that forms the foundation of the rear of the foot. Mena said surgery will be performed to insert a plate and screws to stabilize the bone. Complicating matters, however, are fracture blisters around Mena’s ankle that must heal before the surgery can be done. That could take three weeks or a month.

Mena, who was the leading rider at Fair Grounds when he went down, said he’ll probably go home to Louisville, Ky., but return to New Orleans to have his surgery.

“It’s a difficult time, for sure, but I can’t do anything about it,” Mena said. “Nobody wants to miss time like that, but it’s time for me to spend with my family.”

Kerwin Clark, who was riding Ellashoo, broke at least one rib as well as his jaw and had a collapsed lung, but he was released from the hospital this week.

Ezmosh tries turf

Ezmosh did all the dirty work, setting a strong pace before losing a Jan. 13 Oaklawn allowance race by a neck to Bravazo. Even in defeat, Ezmosh appeared to run the better race that day, but while Bravazo came back to win the Risen Star Stakes, Ezmosh clunked home 10th in his next start, the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn.

Ezmosh raced four wide in the Southwest over a muddy track with a golden rail, but his connections, Zayat Stables and trainer Brad Cox, are changing things up nonetheless and will try Ezmosh on turf in the featured eighth race Sunday at Fair Grounds.

Ezmosh is one of 13 entered in a first-level allowance also open to $50,000 claimers and carded for about 1 1/16 miles. Ezmosh, by Tizway, seems to prefer forward placement in his races, and that does not seem ideal in a race packed with pace elements. Ezmosh is listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite, and it could pay to search for a suitable closer already proven on grass.