Rispoli to have second surgery; no timeline for return yet

Jockey Umberto Rispoli is scheduled to undergo a second ankle surgery in less than a week at a South Florida hospital on Friday to stabilize an injury sustained when he was unseated in a turf sprint at Gulfstream Park last Saturday.

Friday’s operation will also address a fracture to Rispoli’s fibula, according to his agent, Matt Nakatani.

“He’s going to have surgery tomorrow morning and then is looking to come home early next week,” Nakatani said on Thursday. “We knew there would be a second operation. The good thing is the doctors are very happy with things so far.”

Nakatani did not place a timeline on Rispoli’s recovery, which is expected to take months.

“Honestly, they haven’t said much about a timetable,” Nakatani said. “Everyone heals different. It’s how he responds to the physical therapy. Some people are faster than others, and others are slower.

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“The best we can do it take it day-by-day.”

Nakatani said that Tyler Gaffalione had a similar ankle surgery in 2025. Gaffalione returned to riding after four months.

Rispoli is the leading rider at the current Santa Anita meeting with 15 wins through Sunday, one more than Emisael Jaramillo and Kazushi Kimura.

Last Saturday, Rispoli was aboard Unconquerable Keen, who clipped heels in the stretch of the $175,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint. Rispoli fell from the left side of Unconquerable Keen.

Rispoli underwent an initial surgery on his ankle on Sunday.

Rispoli, 37, was the leading rider at the 2025 Del Mar autumn meeting, his first title at Del Mar or Santa Anita since relocating from Hong Kong to Southern California in December 2019.

In 2025, Rispoli won 129 races with mounts that more than $13.4 million, a personal best of his American career.

A native of Italy, Rispoli won his first American classic on Journalism in the Preakness Stakes last May. Journalism also won the Santa Anita Derby and Haskell Invitational and was second in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, with Rispoli aboard.

This week, Nakatani said Rispoli has received considerable support from visitors and well-wishers who have reached out through visits to the hospital or via social media, phone calls, and text messages.

Earlier this week, Rispoli had a pizza delivered by Amauri, a Brazilian-born retired soccer star who played much of his career in Italy. Amauri co-owns a restaurant near Gulfstream Park.

In a photo on Instagram, Amauri wrote of Rispoli in Italian, “He will come back stronger than before.”

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