Luzzi returns from injury, wins with first mount back

Simply being back was the best part, but winning with his first mount since being sidelined by injury made the return of Lane Luzzi even nicer.

Riding the speedy Lakota Warrior in a five-furlong claiming race on turf, Luzzi was an immediate winner in his comeback ride Thursday at Gulfstream Park. Luzzi, a 19-year-old apprentice with 48 previous wins, fractured his collarbone in a June 9 spill at the south Florida track.

“In the long run, I just wanted to get back and feel healthy, feel good,” Luzzi told Gulfstream publicity. “I won the race, and I can say I feel good out there. It’s a process.”

Luzzi had been riding at Gulfstream less than a week when he was injured. He knows well the risks and rewards of riding: His father is Mike Luzzi, the New York-based veteran who won the 1989 Eclipse Award for top apprentice and has endured numerous highs and lows in a riding career of more than a quarter-century.

Lane Luzzi, like his father, began riding on the Maryland circuit, where apprentices tend to thrive. Most of his experience has come back home, but now he is intent on becoming a contender for an apprentice Eclipse Award by staying at Gulfstream, where he had won with three of his first eight mounts before the spill.

Luzzi has several live mounts from his six rides on the nine-race Sunday card at Gulfstream, including Red Aquia in the fourth and Baby Drama in the ninth. There isn’t so much as one allowance on the program, with easily the richest race being a $55,000 maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds (race 7).

First post Sunday is 1:15 p.m. Eastern. Action began Friday with a jackpot carryover of $144,632 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6, which runs Sunday from races 4-9.

After Sunday, Gulfstream goes dark for three days before another four-day week begins Thursday.

◗ Like racing fans pretty much all over North America at this time of year, fans at Gulfstream frequently turn their attention to simulcast action at Saratoga and Del Mar.

Accordingly, Gulfstream is hosting a “Spa & Surf Showdown” for each of the next six Wednesdays. The handicapping contests require a $40 entry fee and focus exclusively on Saratoga and Del Mar. Finalists in the contests will square off on Labor Day, Sept. 5. More information is available at (954) 457-6284.