Jockey Garcia hoping to return to races next weekend

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Martin Garcia, who has not ridden since late November at Del Mar because of a shoulder injury, resumed exercising horses at Santa Anita on Saturday with the intent of a quick return to race riding.

Garcia said he received doctor’s clearance on Friday to resume exercising horses.

“I can’t believe how long it took to come back,” he said between workouts. “Today is my first day. They wouldn’t let me get on a horse until I got clearance.”

On Saturday, Garcia worked horses for trainers Dean Pederson and Bob Baffert. Garcia said he hopes to ride as soon as next weekend at Santa Anita.

Garcia missed more than three weeks of racing last fall after sustaining an injury in a training accident at Santa Anita last September. He returned to riding in mid-October and was active for a month before he was sidelined again. He said he primarily rested over the winter.

“I didn’t do anything,” Garcia said. “I wanted to stay home and recover as fast as I could.”

Garcia, 34, is best known for winning the 2010 Preakness Stakes on Looking at Lucky, the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Bayern, and the 2017 Pacific Classic with Collected. Those runners were trained by Baffert, with whom Garcia has had his greatest success.

Garcia won 26 races in 2018 and has 1,499 career wins.