Juan Diaz injured in Sunday spill

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Jockey Juan C. Diaz suffered three fractured ribs while Albin Jimenez escaped serious injury in a main-track spill in the ninth race at Gulfstream on Sunday, according to agent Roger Velez, who is close friends with Diaz.

It was the fourth spill here over a span of just six racing days.

Running Trappes, ridden by Diaz, appeared to clip heels approaching the quarter pole when in tight quarters. Bluegrass Envy, the 9-5 favorite in the six-furlong race for bottom-rung $6,250 claimers, could not avoid the spill and threw Jimenez to the ground. Neither horse was seriously injured.

Jimenez is the brother of apprentice Carlos Jimenez, who suffered a fractured vertebra in a spill here on turf during the fifth race last Thursday and is expected to be in a neck brace for at least four weeks. No other horses or jockeys were involved in that spill.

A turf-course spill in the final race on the same card involved three horses and jockeys, most notably Richard Mitchell, who remains hospitalized with serious facial injuries from being stepped on by a horse.

No serious injuries resulted in a main-track spill here last Monday that involved three horses and jockeys, including 2017 Eclipse Award finalist Jose Ortiz.

◗ With a mandatory dispersal of the burgeoning Rainbow 6 pool set for Sunday, an 11-race Thursday card is highlighted by a pair of hybrid allowances (races 1 and 9) along with a pair of optional claimers (races 4 and 10). First post is 12:35 p.m. Eastern, with the Rainbow sequence spanning races 6-11 (3:02 post).

The Rainbow 6 jackpot entering Wednesday action stood at a whopping $3,129,357.