Owner McEwen and his horse make their own comebacks

ELMONT, N.Y. – Owner Chip McEwen and his horse Uncle Sigh are both on the comeback trail. For McEwen, the road back has many miles to go before it’s complete.

On April 23, McEwen suffered from cardiac arrest and initially doctors gave him a 1 percent chance of survival, according to his girlfriend, Lynne Langermann. Even after McEwen started to defy those odds, doctors said that if McEwen did survive “he would have no quality of life,” Langermann said.

But nearly three months later, McEwen, 52, is still defying the doctors’ early prognosis. He is now at a brain rehabilitation hospital in Sarasota, Fla., making progress toward what his friends and family hope is a full recovery.

“He’s progressing nicely; he can sit up in a wheelchair and hold conversations,” Langermann said. “His brain is intact. Now we’re working on his physical therapy. He was laying in a bed for several months.”

Langermann called McEwen a “miracle man.”

“God isn’t finished with Chip,” she said. “He still has a lot of work to do on this earth. He is progressing slowly, and we are just so thankful he’s still with us.”

McEwen, who owns a pharmaceutical company based in South Carolina, gained notoriety last year as the owner of Uncle Sigh, a New York-bred who finished second to Samraat in the Grade 3 Withers and Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct to earn his way into the Kentucky Derby, where he finished 14th.

McEwen races under the moniker Wounded Warrior Stables and donates 10 percent of his stable’s purse earnings to charities that benefit wounded or ill war veterans. He hosted two military families at last year’s Derby.

Uncle Sigh, trained by Gary Contessa, has not raced since the 2014 Derby. He was scratched out of the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park that June with a pulled back muscle and given the remainder of the year off. He only returned to Contessa’s barn last month.

Uncle Sigh has breezed twice at Belmont Park for Contessa, who hopes to get him back to the races during the Saratoga meet.

“He’s been training great,” Contessa said. “He looks like a million dollars.”

It may take a little longer for McEwen to make it back to the track, but Langermann believes he will.

“We’re all excited for him and eager to get him back to living his life,” Langermann said. “We really don’t have a timetable, because everybody is so surprised he can do what he has done. Just tell people to keep praying for him and they will see him at the racetrack again.”

Trujillo to ride at Saratoga

Jockey Elvis Trujillo, who recently relocated to the East Coast after spending a year in Southern California, is expected to ride at Saratoga this summer. Anthony Micallef, who represents injured rider Rajiv Maragh, will represent Trujillo, who won the Grade 1 Ballerina in Saratoga in 2007.

“He was doing well in California, but his wife got homesick and they have three kids, so he was looking out for his family,” Micallef said.

Micallef said Trujillo, who was a three-time leading rider at Monmouth Park, wants to become a New York regular.

“He wants to establish himself in New York,” Micallef said.

Also, in Saratoga, Micallef will begin representing Angel Arroyo, who had been represented by David Grace.

NYRA fires head clocker

The New York Racing Association last month officially terminated Stephen Foster, a longtime NYRA employee who for the last several years served as the head clocker and a placing/patrol judge.

As reported in April, Foster and jockey agents Jose Morales Jr. and Mike Gonzalez were escorted off the NYRA grounds for trespassing after an investigation by the Queens District Attorney’s office uncovered potential wrongdoing by them. The Queens DA office, which in April did not confirm or deny it was conducting an investigation, has yet to file any charges. Potential charges could be unlawful use of a computer or tampering with a sporting event.

According to Foster, he was accused of taking money from Gonzalez for a password that would give him access to the InCompass computer system. The InCompasss system would give an agent access to pertinent information such as a list of entries before they become finalized, a list of horses placed on a vet’s list, and workouts. Having access to that information could be deemed a competitive advantage for a jockey agent seeking mounts for his client.

Foster, who confirmed on Tuesday that he received a termination letter from NYRA on June 1 without ever having a hearing, said that he did not take money from Gonzalez.

It is unclear how Morales was involved. Before becoming a jockey agent last September, Morales worked in the NYRA racing office as an entry clerk.

Despite being denied access to the grounds, Morales and Gonzalez were still permitted to work as agents and did so by phone. Morales had represented Angel Arroyo until last month. Gonzalez represents Manuel Franco. However, beginning with the Saratoga meet, Franco will retain Angel Cordero Jr. as his agent.