Injured rider Pereira nearing return

Tiago Pereira, who sustained facial injuries in a one-horse spill at Del Mar on July 19, is aiming for a comeback at the Santa Anita autumn meeting that starts on Sept. 27.

Pereira’s agent, Craig Stephen, said on Thursday that the veteran rider hopes to receive doctor’s clearance next week to resume riding.

“Once he gets clear, he should be able to breeze horses,” Stephen said. “Hopefully, he’ll be ready at the beginning of Santa Anita. I’ve got a couple of stakes for him to ride. I would like him to be on them.”

In the accident, Pereira sustained an injury to an eye socket and bones on his jaw line, Stephen said at the time.

Pereira, 48, has won 42 races this year and has become established among the leading riders in Southern California in the last decade. A native of Brazil, Pereira has won 772 races in the United States.

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At the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that ended in April, Pereira won 28 races to rank in a tie for sixth in the jockey standings. At the Santa Anita spring meeting from mid-April to mid-June, Pereira tied for eighth with 11 wins. He won six races at the three-week Los Alamitos meeting that ended on July 6, finishing in a tie for third in the rider standings.

Pereira, who began riding in 1993, has ridden in several countries and won such races as the $10 million Dubai World Cup on Gloria de Campeao in the United Arab Emirates in 2010.

In California, Pereira’s major wins include the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Tripoli in 2021, the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on Macadamia at Santa Anita in 2023, and the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes on Katonah at Santa Anita last December.

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