Quarter Horse jockey Jensen preparing for long recovery

Top Quarter Horse jockey Cody Jensen will miss most of 2011 while recovering from a broken pelvis suffered at Los Alamitos on Jan. 8.

Jensen underwent surgery for the injury Jan. 12 and returned to his home near Los Alamitos on Monday to begin a lengthy recovery that is expected to last at least until the fall and may take until 2012, he said Tuesday.

“Anything less than a year will be a victory,” he said.

Jensen, 35, was injured when Chicks So Fare suffered an undisclosed injury after a 300-yard race for maiden claimers. Doctors have told Jensen that his pelvis cannot bear weight for three months after which he can began a rehabilitation program.

“I had one of the top pelvis surgeons in So Cal do my surgery,” Jensen said. “He was honest with me. He said, ‘This is a hard break for us to work from. It’s hard to recover from.’ He said, ‘It’s up to how hard you work. It could be as early as six months, but plan on a year.’

“I’ve got a walker and eventually I’ll go to crutches. I can’t put any weight on the right leg for three months.”

Jensen recently talked with fellow Quarter Horse jockey Jimmy Brooks, who said he needed 13 months to recover from a similar injury. This is the second major injury for Jensen, who missed six months after breaking his femur in 2003.

A winner of more than 1,330 races in his 16-year career, Jensen ranked fourth in national earnings last year with $2,757,500, riding primarily at Remington Park, Ruidoso and Los Alamitos. He won the Ruidoso Futurity on eventual 2-year-old champion American Runaway and the Golden State Derby at Los Alamitos on Good Reason Sa.

Earlier in his career, Jensen was the regular rider of Catchmeinyourdreams, a multiple stakes winner at Los Alamitos; and won consecutive runnings of the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs in 2005 and 2006 with Teller Cartel and No Secrets Here.

Jensen said Tuesday that he is committed to a return to riding but admitted that the forthcoming year will be difficult for someone accustomed to an active lifestyle. Financially, he said he has taken adequate precautions.

“I’ve been careful with my money and I’m in no desperate shape,” he said. “I have an accident insurance policy, and that will help me out.”