Jockey Kimura out four weeks with leg injury
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Jockey Kazushi Kimura will miss the next four weeks of racing at Santa Anita because of a lower leg injury sustained in a starting gate incident on Jan. 16, according to his agent, Brian Beach.
“It’s a more severe injury than we thought,” Beach said on Thursday morning. “The doctors say it will be about a month or so.”
Beach did not detail the injury other than to say it was to Kimura’s “lower leg.”
Kimura had hoped to resume riding at Santa Anita the day after the starting gate incident, attempting home therapies to improve his condition. He missed four days of mounts from last Friday through Monday.
Through Monday, Kimura had five wins at the current winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita, ranking eighth in the standings behind leader Flavien Prat, with 22 wins.
Booked to ride seven of the nine races on Thursday, Kimura also had five mounts on Friday and six mounts on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Kimura was booked to ride Imagination in the Grade 2 San Pasqual Stakes for older horses. Diego Herrera will now ride Imagination, trainer Bob Baffert said in a text message on Thursday.
Kimura, 25, has earned three Sovereign Awards as Canada’s outstanding rider – in 2018 as an apprentice, and in 2021 and 2022 in the overall category. He was recognized with a 2019 Eclipse Award as the outstanding apprentice jockey throughout North America.
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