Injured Jockey Carrasco Looking at Aug. 29 Return; Apprentice Rider Thorpe Makes Successful Comeback
Injured Jockey Carrasco Looking at Aug. 29 Return; Apprentice Rider Thorpe Makes Successful Comeback
Apprentice Rider Thorpe Makes Successful Comeback
Sagamore Has Rising ‘Star’ with Turf Debut Winner
Jockey, Trainer Titles Going Down to Final Weekend
Rainbow 6 Begins Anew, Super Hi-5 Carryover for Twilight Friday
LAUREL, MD – A foot injury suffered Aug. 7 at Laurel Park will keep jockey Victor Carrasco from riding until the end of the month, agent Tom Stift said Thursday.
Carrasco, 24, was hurt when he was unseated by O Dionysus, an unraced 2-year-old colt, while leaving the paddock for a 5 ½-furlong maiden race.
Carrasco had a third set of X-rays taken on Monday and remains in an orthopedic boot to protect his foot. He is scheduled for a follow-up appointment on Aug. 29, when Stift hopes his rider will be cleared to return.
“They saw a couple small spots on the little bone in his foot. They didn’t see it at first, but the doctors got a closer look at it and scheduled another appointment for the 29th,” he said. “He’s wearing the boot and icing it and things like that. They had a deal at the track the other day for the trainers and backside help, and he went out for that. It’s just going to take time. He goes back on the 29th and he should be released.”
Carrasco, the 2013 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice, was leading the jockey standings at the time of his injury in wins and purse earnings and now sits second with 19 victories and a bankroll of $565,895. This year, he finished second to Trevor McCarthy at Laurel’s winter-spring meet and the Preakness Meet at Pimlico.
O Dionysus, a Bodemeister colt trained by Gary Capuano, was scratched from the Aug 7 race. He is re-entered in Saturday’s fourth race, a $40,000 maiden special weight event at five furlongs on the main track with meet-leading rider Jevian Toledo named to ride.
This weekend marks the close of the 24-day summer stand at Laurel. Racing shifts to Timonium for the Maryland State Fair meet Aug. 26 to Sept. 5 and returns for Laurel’s fall meet starting Friday, Sept. 9.
Apprentice Rider Thorpe Makes Successful Comeback
Nearly eight months after hurting his knee in a mid-December spill, apprentice rider Darius Thorpe returned to action with a victory in his first mount back Aug. 12 at Laurel.
Thorpe, 20, was cleared to ride Aug. 9 and was a rallying 1 ½-length winner aboard C & B Stable’s My Jersey Boy ($14.20) for trainer Charles Frock in the $15,000 six-furlong claiming event.
“It was a dream come true. That’s all I wanted, for everything to come together and it would come together if I could get that win,” Thorpe said. “I got the win and everything just fell into place. You can’t ask for anything better.”
A five-pound apprentice, Thorpe has added one second and one third in eight subsequent mounts at the summer meet. He was hurt when his horse, Burford, was bumped by Bama Sam near the five-eighths pole and fell on Dec. 19 in a six-furlong maiden claimer at Laurel.
Thorpe spent several weeks in therapy for his knee and had been working horses in the morning at Laurel to prepare for his comeback. His uncle, Avon Thorpe, who has raised him since his youth, is the long-time assistant to Hall of Fame horseman King Leatherbury.
“You just had to be steady and stay with the routine as if you were riding the whole time. Just stay light, eat right and act like you were riding every day. Don’t pay attention to the injury,” Darius Thorpe said. “It’s come back full extension and everything, 100 percent. The doctor gave me an extra six weeks and it did nothing but help.”
In his first full season of riding, Thorpe had a record of 59-60-66 with $1.052 million in purse earnings from 693 mounts in 2015.
Sagamore Has Rising ‘Star’ with Turf Debut Winner
Watching on TV from Saratoga Race Course, where he would later saddle Grade 3-placed Recruiting Ready for the Saratoga Special (G2), trainer Horacio DePaz was thrilled with the effort from Sagamore Farm homebred Chubby Star in her debut victory Sunday at Laurel.
The 2-year-old Malibu Moon filly overcame her inexperience and her 8-1 odds to outrun She’slikethewind through a mid-stretch duel to the wire and win by a half-length in 1:38.63 for a mile over the Kelso Turf Course.
“I watched it back at the barn. The filly ran good. First time out going two turns, we figured she’d like the grass. We thought she would hit the board, but she was gutsy enough to get the win,” DePaz said. “She was really green at the beginning of the race and then she made a run down the lane, even leaning in and still being green. She was competitive, but she’s been pretty competitive in the mornings in training and breezing. We figured she’d be at least game and wanting to do something.”
Chubby Star had a steady string of works over Laurel’s main track for her unveiling, but DePaz said he is likely to keep her on the grass for now.
“Every time that we’ve been on her and I’ve had other people that worked her and they come back and say she works good, time-wise, but she just feels like she’s trying to look for comfortable ground,” he said.
Recruiting Ready, an impressive debut winner May 28 at Pimlico, has been the beaten favorite in a pair of graded stakes since, despite having the lead and appearing on the way to victory in both the Bashford Manor (G3) July 2 at Churchill Downs and the Saratoga Special.
He was run down late and crossed the line second in both stakes, He was disqualified to fourth in the Saratoga Special for interference on the final turn. The winner, Gunnevera, rallied from last to win in his first start outside of South Florida.
“[The jockey] said he idled a bit there at the end and backed off the bit. It seems like he likes to run better when he’s on the bit. That’s just a little immaturity that he has. The last part he thinks he has it done and then he backs off,” DePaz said. “He always gets run down. He looked pretty comfortable and that horse was flying there at the end. That’s a pretty nice little horse that ran him down.”
Jockey, Trainer Titles Going Down to Final Weekend
Jockey Jevian Toledo, Maryland’s leading rider in 2015, has piled up seven victories over the past four racing days to take the lead in the race for the summer meet riding title.
Toledo has 22 wins, three more than injured Victor Carrasco, while Feargal Lynch remains in striking distance with 18 victories. Toledo is named in six of eight races Friday and 10 of 11 on Saturday, while Lynch has five mounts on Friday and 10 on Saturday.
Both Toledo and Lynch were in contention for the Preakness Meet at Pimlico title that preceded Laurel’s summer meet but were unable to catch Trevor McCarthy on closing day. Toledo won Laurel’s fall 2015 meet.
Tim Keefe remains atop the trainer standings with 10 wins, one more than Hamilton Smith. Keefe has one starter on Friday and seven on Saturday, while Smith has no horses entered Friday and two on Saturday.
Keefe is seeking his first Maryland training title. Smith won or shared Laurel titles at the 1998-99 winter, 1999 summer, 2000 winter-spring and 2007 spring meets.
Rainbow 6 Begins Anew, Super Hi-5 Carryover for Twilight Friday
After being taken down for a $31,157.38 jackpot payoff on Sunday, the 20-cent Rainbow 6 will begin anew with Race 3 on the Friday’s final weekly twilight program of the summer meet.
First race post time is 3:40 p.m.
The Rainbow 6 had gone unsolved since being hit for $24,250.10 July 4. Friday’s sequence covers Races 3-8 and includes four grass races on the All Along and Fort Marcy turf courses as well as a $33,000 maiden claiming event for 2-year-olds at 5 ½ furlongs on the main track.
There will be a $1 Super Hi-5 carryover of $714.59 for Friday’s opener, a 5 ½-furlong Fort Marcy turf sprint that drew 16 entries.
In addition to live racing, Laurel is serving up casual food and drink specials with live music from 4 to 8 p.m. Performing Friday is bluegrass-eighties artist Love Cannon.
Mandatory payouts of the Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 and Late Pick 5 pools are scheduled for Sunday's closing day card.
