Parx Racing: Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Frey breaks leg in spill

Kyle Frey, the Eclipse Award-winning apprentice jockey in 2011, will miss a minimum of six months and could be out a year as a result of broken right leg suffered in a spill Saturday at Parx Racing.

Frey was aboard Holy Bear who was vying for the lead turning for home when he fell in the stretch of Saturday’s seventh race at Parx. Holy Bear suffered fatal injuries to his left foreleg and had to be euthanized.

According Frey’s agent, Mark North, Frey underwent surgery Saturday night at a Philadelphia-area hospital, where he had a rod and four screws inserted into the leg.

“Worst-case scenario he’s out eight to 12 months, best-case scenario he’s back in six months,” North said Monday. “He’s in good spirits. He’s the same kid he was before it happened.”

North said that Frey underwent surgery Saturday night and by Sunday he was using a walker and on Monday he was up on crutches.

“The doctor said there is a slight possibility his right leg might be shorter than his left,” North said. “His response was ‘That’s okay, I’ll jack my iron up another hole.’ This didn’t faze him, he wants to be back in action.”

Frey, 20, won 153 races from 884 mounts and purse money of $4,053,549 in 2011, riding mostly at Parx.

This year, Frey has won 62 races and $1.7 million. At Parx, he was the fifth leading rider at the meet with 51 wins.

In the same spill, Delaware Park’s leading rider Alex Cintron suffered a partially dislocated shoulder. According to Mark Mace, Cintron’s agent, doctors gave him clearance to return to riding on Wednesday, but as of Monday the jockey was going to take it “day by day.”

- additional reporting by Doug McCoy