Keeneland: Injured Borel targets return for end of Churchill meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Jockey Calvin Borel, who fractured his left leg in a spill during Keeneland’s sixth race Wednesday that was declared a no contest, is expected to miss at least three to four weeks of riding, agent Jerry Hissam said.

If Borel’s fracture, which occurred in his left fibula, a bone below the knee, is healed following that period, he could return for the last week of Churchill Downs’s fall meet, which begins Sunday and continues through Nov. 30.

“That is the target date if possible,” Hissam said. “We’ll just see how fast he heals.”

If Borel needs more time to recover, he would likely return at Oaklawn Park when that meet begins Jan. 10, Hissam said. Borel usually takes the month of December off.

Beyond fracturing his leg and being what Hissam described as “awfully sore,” Borel was fortunate to escape further injury in a spill, in which he was run over by a trailing horse after falling from his mount, Sonic Dancer, who broke a leg in the early stages of a two-turn 1 1 /16-mile turf race.

The determination by track stewards to declare the race a no contest was made due to where Borel lay prone on the turf course, just past the finish line, in a position of jeopardy. Horses completing the race after making another lap might have been unable to avoid him.

Borel, a Hall of Famer, was still for approximately 15 seconds after the fall. Once being reached by the medical staff, he began to move his extremities and was placed on a stretcher with his head braced. He was conscious when loaded into an ambulance.

Sonic Dancer, trained by Larry Lay, had to be euthanized due to a fractured right leg, stewards said. No other horses or riders appeared to have experienced significant injuries.

The no contest resulted in refunds for wagers that began in race 6 and resulted in an “all” in the sixth race in multi-race bets that began before it.

Some off-track racefans expressed dissatisfaction on racing websites with Keeneland’s limited television coverage of the sixth race, and the lack of immediate graphics fully explaining the no contest on the simulcast feed.