Simington hopes to resume riding soon at Louisiana Downs

Jockeys Don Simington, Fabio Arguello Jr., and apprentice Vanessa Fry are all in different stages of healing after sustaining riding injuries in the Mid-South region over the past several months. Simington is hopeful he will be back in action soon at Louisiana Downs, while Arguello said he is targeting a fall return, and Fry underwent surgery last Sunday.

Simington, a multiple title winner at Louisiana Downs, has not ridden since a June 19 race in which his mount broke down, throwing him to the ground hard. Simington was subsequently hit by an oncoming horse. He was taken to a local hospital and released and had initially hoped to be back riding last week.

“My ribs are still sore,” Simington said Thursday. “They say nothing is cracked or broken through the X-rays. It’s getting better, but they still hurt, and I’m doing an MRI on Monday just to make sure [everything is okay]

“Every few days, I feel a little better. Whenever I feel good enough and strong enough, then I’ll go back to work. I’m just trying to take it easy and not do anything to hurt or disturb things.”

Simington is a career winner of 3,276 races whose mounts have earned more than $44 million. At the time of the spill, he was second in the standings at Louisiana Downs.

Arguello sustained a compound fracture in his left leg at Sam Houston Race Park on Feb. 25 and has since undergone four surgeries, including a bone graft. He was injured when a filly reared up with him in the starting gate, lost her balance, and fell.

“It was just a freaky thing,” Arguello said.

Arguello, 41, said he hopes to start working horses again at the end of September and perhaps make a few starts at Churchill Downs before riding regularly at Remington Park. He ranked among the Oklahoma City track’s leading riders in 2013. Arguello hopes to be race riding by October.

“Right now, I’m doing therapy,” Arguello said Thursday. “I see my doctor in a week and a half. I’m progressing real quick. The doctor told me I’d be okay to ride, it would just take a little bit to heal.”

Arguello has been doing some of his therapy in Texas and is scheduled to complete it in Kentucky.

“Everything is going super,” he said. “I’m thankful to the trainers and the riders for their support.”

He also singled out the support of trainer Joyce Salisbury and her daughter, Kylie.

Arguello won the Kentucky Oaks in 1992 aboard Luv Me Luv Me Not and is a multiple title winner in Kentucky.

Fry, who in May won the first race of the meet at Louisiana Downs, will be sidelined for several months after breaking her right leg in two places when thrown into the rail by a mount prior to a June 28 race at Louisiana Downs. She had surgery to place a rod in the leg last Sunday at LSU Hospital in Shreveport, La., according to her agent, Rick Mocklin.

“She is still in some discomfort, but her spirits are good,” Mocklin said Thursday. “She’s real positive, wanting to come back and ride. She’s just experiencing some discomfort.”

Mocklin said Fry could miss the remainder of the Louisiana Downs meet that ends in late September.

“I don’t know the timetable for this type of injury to heal,” he said. “I think it would be safe to say she’s going to be out at least three months.”

Fry began riding at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, winning her first career race at the track Dec. 7.

Rocky Gulch in Ruidoso Hall of Fame

Rocky Gulch, the first New Mexico-bred Thoroughbred to reach $1 million in earnings, was inducted into the Ruidoso Downs Hall of Fame on June 28. He was part of a class that included Punch and Suzanne Jones, breeders and owners in the American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame; Cliff Lambert, a jockey turned trainer who as a rider won the first running of the All American Futurity in 1959; and Carl Draper, a trainer who twice has won the All American Futurity.

◗ Retablo ($8.60) was the first career winner for both his trainer, Nicholas Granados, and his rider, apprentice Omar Santos, when he romped by 6 3/4 lengths in Thursday night’s third race at Lone Star Park.

◗ Stemmans Inc. announced that its fall mixed sale for Thoroughbreds will be Oct. 12 at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, La.