Edgard Zayas, currently leading rider at Gulfstream Park's Royal Palm Meet, escaped serious injury in a fall in Sunday's fifth race at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track, but is expected to be out of action for about two weeks, according to his agent, Tito Fuentes.
“All things considered, he's good,” Fuentes said of the 29-year-old native of Puerto Rico. “He did suffer a micro fracture on the left side of his jaw, but it's very little. He'll see a specialist in next couple of days and will probably miss a couple of weeks.”
Zayas was aboard Chapalu in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, running just behind the front-running Charles Chrome entering the first turn. Chapalu clipped heels with Charles Chrome and Zayas fell. The eight trailing horses managed to avoid the fallen rider.
“The horse he was riding got a little rank and clipped heels,” Fuentes said. “Edgard lost his balance, and came out of the left stirrup.”
Stewards conducted an inquiry but did not change the order of finish. Chapalu completed the course without a rider and walked off. Another horse, Uno Tiger, checked sharply to avoid Zayas, and was pulled up shortly thereafter and also walked off.
Zayas has 11 wins from 45 starts to lead the Royal Palm Meet that began April 6. He finished fifth in the 2022-23 Championship meet rider standings with 43 victories. Irad Ortiz Jr. was the runaway leader with 128 wins. Zayas' most recent riding title was the Gulfstream Park fall meet in 2021 when he won 43 races from 177 mounts, 14 wins ahead of runner-up Chantal Sutherland. He was forced to miss the entire 2021-22 Championship meet following surgery on his left shoulder.
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