Russell sidelined with eight broken ribs

It appeared last Saturday that Sheldon Russell had escaped serious injury in a racing mishap at Laurel Park. Unfortunately, later that night it was determined that Russell had broken eight ribs and that three of them had punctured his lungs.

Russell, 23, had surgery late that night at the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center in downtown Baltimore and is now home resting comfortably.

“The bottom ones punctured the lung and a hole seeped into the lung causing me to have trouble breathing,” said Russell. “But we are doing well. They took good care of me at Shock Trauma.”

Russell was thrown from Like A Cat in Saturday’s second race, when he had to swerve to miss a fallen horse, Mean Louie Q, who had broken down as the horses rounded the far turn.