Santana, Osorio hurt in spill

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockeys Ricardo Santana Jr. and Didiel Osorio were both home resting on Friday, one day after being injured in a spill in the second race at Oaklawn Park. Both were transported to a local hospital after the heel-clipping accident and were released later Thursday.

Santana, who had a one-win lead in the standings through Thursday, separated his shoulder and was scheduled to see a specialist, according to his agent, Ruben Munoz.

“Nothing is broken,” Munoz said Friday. “These things can be tricky, [missing] a week or a month. We’ll know more when he gets an MRI. He seems comfortable, not in a lot of pain.”

Munoz said Santana was in good spirits Friday.

“I feel at the end of the day, we’re very fortunate to only have” a shoulder injury, said Munoz.

Osorio will miss the remainder of the Oaklawn meet after sustaining a back injury, but plans are for the rider to return to the saddle at Churchill Downs, his agent, Jose Santos Jr., said on Friday.

Santos said Osorio, 22, has been diagnosed with hairline fractures in his T5 and T7 vertebrae and will miss six to eight weeks. Oaklawn closes on April 15. Santos said he has scheduled an appointment with a specialist for Osorio on Monday.

“We’re going to get a followup on that,” Santos said of the initial diagnosis.

Santos said Osorio has movement in his extremities and has promised to come back “better than ever.”

Santos said the rider also was grateful for all the concern and well wishes from his fellow jockeys as well as trainers, some of whom came to the hospital Thursday.

Osorio is a native of Panama City.

New layer to prerace exams

The board of stewards at Oaklawn has instituted a new wrinkle to prerace exam procedures at the track, a move concerning “questionable marks on a horse’s neck.” The new procedures went into effect Thursday.

The protocol requires veterinarians who either conduct prerace exams or administer Lasix to check the necks of entered horses for any questionable marks, and if found, those horses will be scratched. The horses will then be sent to the test barn to have blood drawn and will be placed on the veterinarian’s list until the results of such tests are returned to the commission veterinarians.

Lasix at Oaklawn is administered by independent veterinarians on behalf of the Arkansas Racing Commission rather than by private practitioners working for individual stables.

There were no scratches Thursday as a result of the new procedure, the stewards said on Friday.

The new exam wrinkle is unique. The stewards, when asked, said they were not aware of other jurisdictions employing such a practice. The procedure, said state steward Stan Bowker, complements Oaklawn’s continued efforts to uphold the integrity of racing. Bowker, who also is a steward in Indiana, said there have been some discussions about putting such a procedure in place in Indiana.

Also at Oaklawn, testing for total carbon dioxide levels in random overnight races began Thursday.

“It’s picking out races other than stakes,” Bowker said. “It’s always been part of the stakes protocol. We’re just expanding.”

Last month, the commission passed an emergency rule concerning the total dissolved carbon dioxide threshold level, making it 37.0 millimoles per liter of blood plasma in all cases. Some rules had provided for higher threshold levels for horses who compete on Lasix. The change brings Arkansas in line with national standards, according to the testimony that was given at the meeting held at Oaklawn.

◗ Fear the Cowboy, the winner of last year’s Evangeline Downs Mile, will be considered for the $250,000 Essex Handicap on March 18 at Oaklawn, said trainer Efren Loza Jr. Loza said he is monitoring the potential field for the Essex, which shares a card with the Rebel and Azeri stakes.

Fear the Cowboy last raced Feb. 25, finishing second in the $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup at Sam Houston. He earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 90. One start prior, Fear the Cowboy won an allowance at Delta Downs. Loza is wintering at Delta and has a string of horses in south Florida.

◗ P C Cowboy can flatter One Liner on Sunday when he returns to the overnight ranks for the eighth race, an optional $50,000 claimer for 3-year-olds at a mile.

P C Cowboy last raced Feb. 20, closing for eighth behind One Liner in the Grade 3, $500,000 Southwest Stakes. P C Cowboy was a maiden special weight winner at a mile at Oaklawn in January. Ramon Vazquez has the mount for trainer John Ortiz.

The chief threat could be Junket, who last year ran second in both the Victoria and Colin stakes at Woodbine.