DEL MAR, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza suffered a fracture to the C-3 vertebrae and will be sidelined indefinitely, his agent, Brian Beach, reported Sunday.
Espinoza also had some numbness in his left arm, but it is subsiding, Beach said. Beach described that arm injury as similar to a "stinger" suffered by football players.
Espinoza was injured during an accident Sunday morning at Del Mar in which the stakes-winning sprinter Bobby Abu Dhabi perished.
The owners of Midnight Soiree have won their appeal of the disqualification of their filly from first to second place following the running of the $100,000 Martha Washington Stakes at Gulfstream Park on July 7.
Midnight Soiree, with jockey Luca Panici aboard, crossed the finish line first, three parts of a length in front of Camilla Princess, in the one-mile Martha Washington. The pair engaged in a bumping match through the final furlong that appeared to have been precipitated by Camila Princess, with both fillies equally at fault the remainder of the way.
DEL MAR – Jockey Victor Espinoza was injured and the stakes-winning sprinter Bobby Abu Dhabi perished in a spill Sunday morning at Del Mar.
Espinoza was working Bobby Abu Dhabi when the horse dropped suddenly and without warning nearing the end of a drill, apparently from a sudden cardiac event.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Martine Bellocq, the trainer who was badly injured when saving horses during the tragic fire at San Luis Rey Downs last December, has been selected as this year's winner of the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award, given annually to those who have served the sport “with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction.”
Bellocq will be presented the award on Aug. 18, the day of the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. It will be her first public appearance since the fire.
Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., has canceled its Saturday program due to an extreme heat advisory, according to both track officials and horsemen. The forecast for Saturday is a high of 106 degrees, according to The Weather Channel.
The very generous and high-level runner Ring Weekend has moved on to a new career and is being trained as an event horse by Olympic Gold Medal winner Phillip Dutton.
Purchased by West Point Thoroughbreds for $310,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September sale, Ring Weekend was trained throughout his career by Graham Motion. From 2014 to 2016, the gelded son of Tapit won six graded stakes, at Saratoga, Belmont Park, Del Mar, Santa Anita, and Tampa Bay Downs. Two of his more memorable victories came in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf and the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on dirt.
Manny Ycaza, the Hall of Fame jockey widely credited with paving the way for Latin American riders in North America, died Monday in New York at age 80.
Ycaza’s wife, Jeanne, said her husband died of pneumonia and sepsis in a local hospital after being transported there Sunday evening when he suddenly took ill.
“He died peacefully, surrounded by his family,” she said.
The New York Gaming Commission has rejected an appeal from supporters of the trainer Richard Dutrow to reconsider the 10-year ban he has been serving since the beginning of 2013, the commission’s chairman said at the end of a meeting on Monday.
Barry Sample, the chairman, said that commission members met prior to the Monday meeting to discuss the proposal and then voted 4-2 to reject it. No reason was given for the vote.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Randi Persaud is under investigation by the New York State Gaming Commission and the New York Racing Association and will not be permitted to run or enter his horses at NYRA tracks for the foreseeable future, racing officials said Saturday.
“His entries have been stopped and his horses have been scratched,” Steve Lewandowski, the steward for the Gaming Commission, said Saturday. “There’s an investigation going on with him.”
Say Florida Sandy, whose long and consistent career on the New York circuit made him a fan favorite and an honored New York-bred, died on Wednesday of an apparent heart attack at a farm in Central Kentucky, according to the owner of the retirement facility Old Friends, which managed his post-breeding career. Say Florida Sandy, retired since 2003, was 24.
