Hand Injury Knocks Jockey Russell Out Indefinitely; Rainbow 6 Carryover Grows to $9,709 for Saturday; Saturday, Sunday Turf Races Moved to Main Track
Hand Injury Knocks Jockey Russell Out Indefinitely; Rainbow 6 Carryover Grows to $9,709 for Saturday; Saturday, Sunday Turf Races Moved to Main Track
Former Maryland Leading Rider Hurt Sept. 24 at Laurel Park
In Arrears, Discreet Heat Take Maiden Features Friday
Rainbow 6 Carryover Grows to $9,709 for Saturday
Saturday, Sunday Turf Races Moved to Main Track
LAUREL, MD – Jockey Sheldon Russell, shaken up in a fall Sept. 24 at Laurel Park, will be sidelined indefinitely with a minor hand injury said his agent, Marty Leonard.
Russell, 29, was hurt when his mount, 8-year-old Dannhauser, broke down approaching the far turn of the $60,000 Bert Allen, one of five stakes for Virgina-bred/sired horses on the Commonwealth Day program.
Maryland’s leading rider in 2011 and a six-time meet champion at Laurel Park and historic Pimlico Race Course, Russell complained of a headache and sore hand and was transported by ambulance to the hospital where a CAT scan and X-rays proved negative.
“Sheldon was released from the emergency room a couple hours after his fall. He is doing fine and hopes to be riding again in a couple of weeks,” Leonard said. “Nothing is broken.”
Leonard said that the injury was not related to the torn labrum and fractured shoulder Russell suffered in a training accident last November that kept him out of action until returning July 23 at Laurel.
According to Equibase, Russell had 16 wins and $777,007 in purse earnings from 138 starts since his return. He ranked fourth in purses ($244,361) and tied for fifth with five wins from 51 mounts through the first nine days of Laurel’s current fall meet.
Russell was replaced on his only two mounts Friday.
He has ranked among Maryland’s leading riders since his arrival in 2007, and has also endured a multitude of injuries including broken ribs and a punctured lung in 2015, a broken foot in 2013, broken ribs in 2010, a broken wrist in 2008 and fractured vertebrae in 2007 and 2008.
In Arrears, Discreet Heat Take Maiden Features Friday
Narrow Leaf Farm’s In Arrears, a Maryland-bred Scipion gelding making his second career start, took the lead with a furlong to run and splashed home a four-length winner in the first of Friday’s two featured $40,000 maiden special weight events for 2-year-olds.
Ridden by Forest Boyce for trainer Wayne Potts, favored In Arrears ($5.60) ran 5 ½ furlongs in 1:06.38 in a race rained off the Kelso Turf Course onto a sloppy main track. The race drew 16 entries with In Arrears the lone horse entered for main track only.
In the co-featured sixth race, Tim E. O’Donohue Racing Stables’ Discreet Heat ($14.40) swept to the lead on the far outside and kept on under jockey Eric Camacho to win by 1 ¼ lengths over Cape Lookout in 1:12.78 for six furlongs. Blackjack Buster, the 3-5 favorite, finished fifth.
Rainbow 6 Carryover Grows to $9,709 for Saturday
For the 10th consecutive racing day to open the fall meet, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 went unsolved to grow the carryover jackpot to $9,709.80 for Saturday’s 10-race program.
First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
Multiple tickets were sold with all six winners Friday, each worth $219.34.
The Rainbow 6 carryover jackpot is only paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 60 percent of that day’s pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners while 40 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
Saturday’s Rainbow 6 sequence begins in Race 6 and includes the $75,000 Politely for Maryland-bred/sired females 3 and up going six furlongs in Race 8 and the $75,000 Challedon for non-winners of a sweepstakes 3 and older at seven furlongs in Race 9.
Notes: Jockey Alex Cintron and trainer Mary Eppler teamed up for a pair of winners with Visual Effect ($13.40) in the third race and Super Sharp ($4) in the seventh. Jockey Victor Carrasco posted a riding double aboard Cursive ($7.20) in the second race and Chloe’s White Soxs ($4) in the ninth.
