Luzzi badly injured in paddock accident

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Mike Luzzi suffered a broken leg and a fractured pelvis in a paddock accident prior to the ninth race at Aqueduct on Sunday.

Luzzi, 45, had just been given a leg up on the 2-year-old filly Tricky Zippy when she flipped over and fell on top of him. On Sunday night, Luzzi’s agent, David Grace, said Luzzi had fractured his pelvis in five places and the tibia of his left leg in two places.

Mike Luzzi's son Lane, who is preparing to become a jockey himself, said in a text on Monday morning that plans called for his father to be transported to Manhattan Hospital for Special Surgery but “they do not think he is stable enough at the moment to transport him.”

Tricky Zippy was scratched from the New York-bred maiden race and appeared to be fine on Sunday evening, according to Grace. Tricky Zippy is trained by Carlos Martin, for whom Grace had previously worked for many years.

Luzzi, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice of 1989, has won 3,420 races since beginning his career in 1988 and his mounts have earned more than $108 million.

He has won Grade 1 stakes on Daaher in the 2007 Cigar Mile; Sutra, 2006 Frizette; Spun Sugar, 2006 Go for Wand and Apple Blossom; Jibab, 2002 Coaching Club American Oaks; Crtical Eye, 2001 Hempstead; Run Man Run, 1998 Malibu; Kiri’s Clown, 1995 Sword Dancer; and Timely Warning in the 1991 Sword Dancer.

- additional reporting by David Grening