Meet Leading Rider, Apprentice J.G. Torrealba Returns Friday

LAUREL, MD – Champion jockey Jevian Toledo is expected to be out of action until late June after having minor surgery to repair his collarbone, while spring meet leading rider J.G. Torrealba will return to action Friday, five days after they were involved in a spill at Laurel Park.

Toledo was injured during Sunday’s fourth race after being unseated when his mount, Jackie A, tripped over Torrealba and Bourbon and Ice, who had stumbled when in tight quarters at the top of the stretch and fell. Both horses walked off the track.

One shy of 1,600 career wins and a four-time annual leading rider in Maryland, the 29-year-old Toledo and five-pound apprentice Torrealba, 22, were both taken to University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center. Toledo was subsequently sent to R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

“It was a dislocated collarbone [from] the breastplate. They had to go in, make a little incision and do a tiny surgery on him. He spent two nights at Shock Trauma, but he’s home now,” Toledo’s agent, Marty Leonard, said. “He’s going to be out probably two months. He’s disappointed, but he’s OK. It could have been much worse.”

Torrealba worked horses Wednesday and Thursday and is named in seven of nine races when the spring meet resumes Friday. A native of Venezuela that has two more weeks as an apprentice, Torrealba leads all riders with 15 wins at the 15-day stand which runs through Sunday, May 5. Toledo and Jaime Rodriguez are tied for second with 12 wins apiece.

“J.G.’s doing great. He worked horses this morning and yesterday and he’ll be back riding Friday,” Torrealba’s agent, Simon Purdy, said. “It’s been [an] amazing [meet]. I’m so happy for him. He works so hard. He doesn’t look like an apprentice rider; he looks like a journeyman. Let’s hope we can keep it going.”

Post time for the first of nine races Friday is 12:25 p.m. There will be carryovers of $12,280.29 in the 50-cent Late Pick 5 (Races 5-9), $8,226.82 in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 (Races 4-9) and $6,638.73 in the $1 Jackpot Super High Five (Race 6) wagers.