Leading Rider McCarthy Undergoes Successful Shoulder Surgery; Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
Leading Rider McCarthy Undergoes Successful Shoulder Surgery; Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
Jockey Karamanos Remains Three Wins Shy of 2,000 Milestone
World-Class Turf Course Yields Three Track Records Opening Weekend
LAUREL, MD – Jockey Trevor McCarthy, Maryland’s leading rider two of the last three years who recently earned his 1,000th career victory, is in the early stages of recovery from successful surgery on his injured left shoulder this week.
McCarthy’s agent, Scott Silver, said the 23-year-old rider, ranked among the winningest jockeys in the country at the time of his injury, will be sidelined a minimum of six months and is projected to return near the end of 2017 or early 2018.
“He had surgery on Monday and everything went really well. He’s probably going to be in a sling for about a month to six weeks, and then he’ll start rehab,” Silver said. “He cannot get on a horse for six months, so we’re probably looking at 6 ½-7 months before he can ride.
“He’s going to feel really good in about two or three months. He’s going to feel great, but it’s the contact,” he added. “He can’t have contact. He’ll be able to work out and get fit and all that, but he just won’t be able to be getting on horses.”
McCarthy suffered a broken right pinky finger and dislocated shoulder when he landed awkwardly after being thrown when his mount, Skip the Talk, attempted to jump over a fallen horse in a May 21 turf race at Monmouth Park. The shoulder was put back into place but after consulting with doctors, the decision was made to have surgery.
Dr. Christopher Dodson, a board-certified sports medicine surgeon that specializes in shoulder, knee and elbow injuries, performed the operation at Bryn Mawr Hospital in the western suburbs of Philadelphia.
“It was more than likely that if he didn’t get it surgically fixed that it probably would pop out again and he’d have problems with it down the road. The whole reason for doing it properly was to avoid all that. When he comes back, he’ll be 100 percent,” Silver said. “We didn’t want to take the risk, for his long-term career, not to fix it properly. The surgeon was really happy with it and said everything went great.”
McCarthy has won six individual meet titles in Maryland since he began riding in 2011, including Laurel’s winter-spring meet that ended May 7. His 1,000th career win came aboard Rainbow Heir in the Wolf Hill Stakes May 13 at Monmouth. McCarthy has 106 wins and nearly $3.5 million in purse earnings from 526 mounts this year.
Rainbow 6, Super Hi-5 Carryovers for Return of Live Racing Friday
There will be carryovers in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 and $1 Super Hi-5 wagers when live racing returns to Laurel Park with a 10-race program Friday.
First race post time is 1:10 p.m.
No one solved the Rainbow 6 on Sunday creating a 6,534.40 jackpot carryover for Friday’s sequence that spans Races 5-10. Three of the races will be contested over the Bowl Game and Exceller layouts on Laurel’s world-class turf course.
The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out only 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 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.
A carryover of $3,109.39 will be available for Friday’s opener, a $22,000 maiden claiming event for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on the Exceller course.
In all, 73 horses were entered for five grass races Friday, an average of 14.6 per race.
Jockey Karamanos Remains Three Wins Shy of 2,000 Milestone
Journeyman Horacio Karamanos enters the second weekend of the summer meet within reach of the 2,000-win plateau.
Karamanos, a native of Argentina who turns 44 June 28, is named in two races Thursday at Delaware Park and eight of 10 races Friday at Laurel. He went 2-for-12 riding two of Laurel’s first three days, also finishing third aboard Recruiting Ready in the Woody Stephens (G2) June 10 at Belmont Park.
Among Karamanos’ mounts Friday a program favorites Chief Tarhe for trainer Mary Eppler in the second race, an $18,000 claiming event for 3-year-olds and up going one mile, and Publishanditerate for trainer Horacio DePaz in the fourth for maidens 3 and older, also at eight furlongs.
Karamanos is also named in six of 10 races Saturday including Follow No One in the $75,000 Alma North for 3-year-old fillies that kicks off Laurel’s summer stakes program.
Before arriving in the U.S. in late 1999, Karamanos had won more than 1,500 races in his native country and earned his first domestic victory in 2000. He is a five-time Maryland meet champion, most recently sharing top honors during the Preakness Meet at Pimlico that preceded the summer stand.
World-Class Turf Course Yields Three Track Records Opening Weekend
Laurel’s world-class turf course saw track records fall on each of the first three days of the summer meet’s opening weekend.
Billy the Bull won the fifth race on opening day, June 9 in 1:01.31, breaking the previous 5 ½-furlong record of 1:01.59 over the Kelso layout set by Natural Seven on Sept. 26, 2009.
A pair of marks fell on June 10 after Pizmo Time ran 1 1/16 miles over the Fort Marcy layout in 1:39.78 in the eighth race, and Gone Away completed the distance in 1:39.59 on the Kelso course. The old marks were set by Onus (1:39.87) on the Fort Marcy Sept. 10, 2016 and Western Pleaser (1:40.22) on the Kelso Sept. 19, 2007.
Pizmo Time’s mark lasted 24 hours before it was broken in Sunday’s ninth race by Lanier, ridden by Hall of Famer Edgar Prado for trainer Mike Geralis. The final time was 1:39.72.
“He seemed like a very nice horse to ride. He can go either way, go to the front or sit right off the pace,” Prado said. “He was coming off short races and he had all the speed, so I just let him pop out of the gate a little and do his own thing and he just kept going. He was moving good, but comfortable, and the track is fast so it kind of played in our favor.”
