Retired jockey Krone fractures leg

Retired jockey Julie Krone, whose Hall of Fame career was punctuated by a number of severe injuries, is recovering from multiple fractures of her left leg suffered Sunday afternoon while training a riding horse at a facility in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., near Del Mar.

Krone, 46, underwent surgery to repair the left femur on Monday at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.

According to Krone's husband, Daily Racing Form executive columnist Jay Hovdey, Krone said that the horse she was schooling spooked from a snake and bucked her hard to the ground. She also suffered minor soft-tissue damage to her left shoulder.

"Julie said no one ever can forget that riding horses can be dangerous at any speed," Hovdey said. "But you know her. She'll be home in a couple days and back on that horse as soon as her leg will allow."

Besides becoming a mother - daughter Lorelei is 4 - Krone's retirement has been spent teaching the Pat Parelli discipline of natural horsemanship, primarily to young riders. By far the all-time leader among women jockeys, Krone ended her career in February 2004 with 3,704 wins, which included a Belmont Stakes and a Breeders' Cup event. She was inducted into the Thoroughbred racing Hall of Fame in 2000.