LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – One day after Flavien Prat sustained five fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung in a spill at Los Alamitos, the 23-year-old jockey received good news Friday from his neurosurgeon. Prat will not require surgery for the fractures, four of which are minor and another that is more significant.
Prat’s neurosurgeon Dr. Asadeh Farin made the diagnosis after tests Friday at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, where Prat remains in the intensive care unit.
Florent Geroux was named to ride Saturday at Parx and therefore missed the last program of the five-day Kentucky Downs meet, but what the 29-year-old Frenchman accomplished at the south-central Kentucky track this month was nothing short of remarkable.
Geroux rode 12 winners from 28 starters for mount earnings of nearly $1.2 million in continuing his steady rise into the elite ranks of North American jockeys. He ties Rafael Bejarano (12 for 35 in 2004) for most wins at a Kentucky Downs meet while easily setting the earnings record.
Work All Week breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds Friday morning at Churchill in preparation for the Phoenix Stakes on opening day (Oct. 2) of the Keeneland fall meet. Sal Gonzalez Jr. was aboard the 6-year-old Work All Week for Midwest Thoroughbreds and trainer Roger Brueggemann.
Another Midwest homebred, Arlington Million winner The Pizza Man, was scheduled for a serious breeze Saturday in preparation for the Oct. 3 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.
Melancon now Borel’s agent
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – While Churchill Downs would love to have American Pharoah in the lineup for the Lukas Classic, the more realistic view is that the 1 1/8-mile race will draw a field with a little less panache.
American Pharoah is among the 32 nominees to the Lukas Classic, one of three stakes to be run here next Saturday (Sept. 26), but the nomination by trainer Bob Baffert appears to be a provisional one. Instead, the likely favorite could be Golden Lad, a winner of three stakes this year, all for Todd Pletcher.
ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder looked super working six furlongs Friday morning at Santa Anita under jockey Gary Stevens, her final workout before the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes on Sept. 26.
It was 6:45 a.m. when Beholder broke off at the five-eighths pole, five lengths behind an unidentified workmate. She cruised past in the lane, “won” the work by more than three lengths, and worked to the seven-eighths pole. Trainer Richard Mandella timed her six furlongs in 1:12.60; track clockers gave her 1:12.80.
Jockey Flavien Prat sustained five fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung in a spill Thursday at Los Alamitos, according to his agent, Derek Lawson.
Lawson said Prat has movement in his extremities and was resting comfortably under sedation in the intensive care unit at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center on Friday morning.
Prat had a chest tube inserted and underwent a CAT scan on Thursday, and doctors have scheduled an MRI for him on Friday. Lawson said that Prat fractured the T-4 through T-8 vertebrae.
The brothers George Ackel III and Adam Ackel will win their second straight owner title at Louisiana Downs when the meet ends on Saturday. They are competing this year as Extreme Racing Stables in partnership with Gabe Corchiani. Jonas Gibson trains for the group and said that following the meet the stable will head to Fair Grounds. Gibson was second to Karl Broberg in the trainer standings going into the race week on Wednesday.
Richard Eramia has locked up the Louisiana Downs riding title over Don Simington.
Lone Star Park opens its Quarter Horse meet on Friday night, and the track will host the Challenge Championships on Nov. 6-7. The series of major stakes brings together some of the sport’s top Quarter Horses.
“It’s a huge boost for our meet,” said Bart Lang, director of racing for Lone Star. “We’ve probably seen a 10 percent increase in stall applications this year, and we’re expecting great things for the whole entire meet. We’re going to have more horses here because of it. We’re expecting a good meet.”
Richard Anyel is the new announcer for Retama Park, according to Kevin Whalen, the track’s general manager. Anyel replaces Tom Harris, who is the new announcer for Zia Park.
“Richard Anyel has worked with us here at Retama Park for more than 10 years,” Whalen said in an e-mail. “Rich has run our fan-education area and served as our in-house handicapper during that time. He had an excellent live audition while Tom Harris was still here, and we were glad to offer him the position moving forward.”
He’s Comin in Hot made a triumphant return to his home state Saturday night for a division of the $75,000 Texas Stallion Stakes at Retama Park. Now, he’s a candidate for some of the 2-year-old stakes at Remington Park, said trainer Bret Calhoun.
He’s Comin in Hot, who earlier this year won the Grade 3 Bashford Manor at Churchill Downs, set quick fractions in the Texas Stallion Stakes before going on to win by 1 1/4 lengths and cover six furlongs in 1:10.45. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 86.
