Jockey Lezcano likely to miss rest of winter meet

Jockey Jose Lezcano was scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday on his left shoulder and his left knee and will miss six to eight weeks of action, he said Sunday.

Lezcano said he needs surgery on his rotator cuff in his left shoulder and on the meniscus in his left knee. Lezcano said he injured the meniscus when he was unseated by Bastet leaving the starting gate of the ninth race at Aqueduct on Jan. 10.

“It’s never the right time to do it, but I have to do it,” Lezcano said.

Lezcano, 35, was the second-leading rider in wins on the New York Racing Association circuit in both 2019 and 2020. In 2019, he won his first NYRA riding title, taking the Belmont spring/summer title.

Through Sunday, the halfway point of the Aqueduct winter meet, Lezcano was fourth in the rider standings with 27 wins from 139 mounts.