Jockey Sebastian Saez okay after spill

It’s a story with tragic overtones and one that was too frighteningly familiar.

Sebastian Saez was thrown from his mount in the seventh race Sunday at Ellis Park and lay motionless for a couple of minutes. The incident threw a massive scare into Julio Espinoza, who only last October endured the nightmare of seeing Saez’s older brother, Juan, suffer fatal injuries in a spill at Indiana Grand.

“I didn’t even want to think about it,” said Espinoza, the agent and father figure to both brothers. “Just don’t want to go there.”

Fortunately, Saez, 16, emerged only with a bruised lower left leg, according to Espinoza, and he is expected back in action Friday when Ellis starts another three-day weekend.

Meanwhile, veteran jockey Jesus Castanon sustained a small fracture in his tailbone in an unrelated spill in the same race Sunday and could be sidelined anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Castanon already had been out eight weeks this summer with a tailbone injury prior to his return to action Aug. 7.

With 10 of 31 days left in the Ellis meet, Saez trails Didiel Osorio by just a two-win margin atop the jockey standings, meaning he stands a solid chance to follow his late brother as a champion rider at the western Kentucky track. Juan Saez, also competing with an apprentice allowance, was easily the leading jockey at Ellis last summer with 51 wins.

Into Friday, Osorio led with 19 wins to Saez’s 17, with Marcelino Pedroza right behind them with 16.

The trainers’ race is similarly tight, with Ian Wilkes holding an 8-7 edge over Brad Cox.