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Montanez Recovering From Back Surgery After Laurel Park Spill

Jockey Rosario Montanez, an Eclipse Award finalist as the top apprentice of 2011, is recovering from successful back surgery Saturday to repair what agent Joe Rocco Sr. said were several fractures following a spill in Friday's first race at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

Montanez, a 28-year-old San Diego native, was unseated when his mount, 4-year-old filly Hendaya, clipped heels and fell leaving the backstretch of a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for filly and mare claimers 3 and up. Jockey Angel Cruz, aboard Annie Boo Boo, jumped to avoid the fallen horse and rider before ultimately easing his horse, while Hendaya was able to get up and jog off the turf course.

Surgery was performed Saturday morning at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Rocco, a former jockey who won more than 3,700 races from 1979-2011, visited the hospital and was also getting updates from Montanez's sister-in-law, Laurel-based apprentice rider Rebecca Grace LaBarre.

“She said the surgery went well,” Rocco said. “He's out of surgery. They said he had like six broken bones in his back. They didn't give me the specifics, but they said he also broke his neck somewhere but they think it will heal on its own. I feel so bad for the boy.”

A career winner of 609 races and more than $18.8 million in purse earnings since 2010, Montanez missed 20 months after suffering a concussion, fractured rib and pelvis, and head lacerations that required a plate to be surgically inserted in his face after a July 2014 spill at Saratoga, returning to the irons in March 2016.

Riding primarily in Maryland, Montanez had seven wins from 77 mounts in 2020. A multiple stakes-winning jockey, he was aboard Happy Lantern for Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury's 6,500th career victory Sept. 22, 2018, at Laurel.

Rocco praised Montanez's talent and work ethic, particularly during Maryland's pause in live racing from mid-March to May 30 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“I love him,” Rocco said. “I love him. I was a jockey for 40 years. He's probably one of the most determined kids I ever met, and I was very determined. He worked every day during the virus. Every day. It's unreal. I feel terrible.”

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Fewster Returns To Race-Riding In Maryland After 11-Year Absence

Emily Fewster, a jockey who rode 40 winners between 2004 and 2009, had her first mount in more than 11 years aboard Justin Nixon owned-and-trained gelding I Idolize You in Friday's seventh race at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

I Idolize You, making his fifth start this year but first since Feb. 29, pressed eventual runner-up The Forty Factor through a quarter-mile in 23.07 seconds before dropping back and finishing last of seven as Smokin Hot Factor rallied to give trainer Kieron Magee his first win of the summer meet in the six-furlong waiver maiden claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

Born in Korea but raised in Maryland, the 33-year-old Fewster first began riding at the age of 5, showed and broke horses and schooled timber horses before turning pro Jan. 31, 2004 at Fair Grounds. Last a winner on Aug. 21, 2008, she hadn't ridden in a race since Jan. 22, 2009 – both at Laurel Park.

Fewster began galloping on a farm at 13 and later galloped for late Maryland training legend Dickie Small before moving to New Orleans, where she got a job working for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. She rode her first winner Feb. 22, 2004, at Fair Grounds with Princessofthebayou, owned and trained by Donald Moran Sr.

In addition to Fair Grounds, Fewster also rode at Evangeline Downs, Yavapai Downs and Sam Houston during her rookie season before making Maryland her primary base in 2005. She also competed at tracks such as Colonial Downs, Delaware Park and Philadelphia Park and won the 2007 John Henry Stakes aboard Dubai Cat at The Meadowlands.

Currently, Fewster works as the main stable rider for Nixon's Laurel-based string in the morning, and he said the mount was a reward for her hard work and dedication.

“She joined the team in December when we came back down from Woodbine. She's been a real asset to the team,” Nixon said. “She gets on him in the morning, does a great job, so she deserved a shot here in the afternoon.

“She's dedicated to all my horses,” he added. “I don't think any one of them gets any more than another. She's involved with all of them.”

I Idolize You was racing first time for Nixon since being claimed for $5,000 out of his previous start, also at six furlongs over the main track. Shortly afterward, live racing was paused for 2 ½ months in Maryland amid the coronavirus pandemic before returning May 30.

“We obviously had to shut down and I elected to turn him out,” Nixon said. “He came in a little unfit and we're just trying to get him right.”

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Stronach 5: Three Winning Tickets Each Worth $41,725

There were three winning tickets in Friday's Stronach 5 each worth $41,725.70.

Friday's Stronach 5 featured races from Laurel Park and Gulfstream Park with a $100,000 guaranteed pool and industry-low 12-percent takeout.

The Stronach 5 kicked off with a pair of 10-1 longshots. Weekend Delight ($22.40) won Laurel's sixth race, the opening leg, and Merseyside ($23.20) won the Gulfstream's eighth race and second leg of the Stronach 5. The final three winners were all under 4-1.

Friday's races and sequence

· Leg One – Laurel Park 6th Race: Weekend Delight $22.40

· Leg Two –Gulfstream Park 8th Race: Merseyside $23.20

· Leg Three –Laurel Park 7th Race: Smokin Hot Factor $5

· Leg Four –Gulfstream Park 9th Race: Dizzy Gillespie $8.60

· Leg Five –Laurel Park 8th race: Fiya $6.40

Fans can watch and wager on the action at 1/ST.COM/BET as well as stream all the action in English and Spanish at LaurelPark.com, SantaAnita.com, GulfstreamPark.com, and GoldenGateFields.com.

The Stronach 5 In the Money podcast, hosted by Jonathan Kinchen and Peter Thomas Fornatale, will be posted by 2 p.m. Thursday at InTheMoneyPodcast.com and will be available on iTunes and other major podcast distributors

The minimum wager on the multi-race, multi-track Stronach 5 is $1. If there are no tickets with five winners, the entire pool will be carried over to the next Friday.

If a change in racing surface is made after the wagering closes, each selection on any ticket will be considered a winning selection. If a betting interest is scratched, that selection will be substituted with the favorite in the win pool when wagering closes.

The Maryland Jockey Club serves as host of the Stronach 5.

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Laurel’s Leading Rider Sheldon Russell Out Four To Six Weeks With Broken Wrist

Jockey Sheldon Russell, the leading rider at Laurel Park's current summer meet, will miss at least two months with a broken right wrist suffered in a gate mishap Thursday at Delaware Park.

Agent Marty Leonard said the 32-year-old Russell was hurt after being unseated by his mount Maliceinthepalace, a 3-year-old filly trained by Michael Gorham, as the horses were loading for Delaware's third race. Maliceinthepalace would go on to run fourth under Alex Cintron.

“Walking into the gate the horse just reared up and he came off. When he came off, he landed on the ground and used his hand to brace his fall and that's what did it,” Leonard said. “The second he hit the ground he said he knew it was broken. They went and got X-rays and that confirmed it.

Leonard said Russell, married to Laurel-based trainer Brittany Russell, is expected to be out “four to six weeks.”

“You never expect that to happen,” Leonard said.

Sheldon Russell led Laurel's summer meet, which began May 30 following a 2 ½-month pause in live racing amid the coronavirus pandemic, with 20 wins and $568,391 in purse earnings, five wins ahead of runner-up Trevor McCarthy.

Russell had five multi-win days during the summer stand, including hat tricks June 6, 8 and 12. He is the regular rider for multiple stakes-winning 3-year-old filly Hello Beautiful, under consideration for the Test (G1) Aug. 8 at Saratoga and trained by his wife.

A winner of 1,392 career races, Russell ranked second in Maryland with 93 wins and $3.3 million in purses earned in 2019. The state's leading rider in 2011, he is a seven-time meet champion owning five titles at Laurel and two at Pimlico Race Course between 2008 and 2015.

Though he has been ridden at full health since the spring of 2017, Russell's career has been beset by injuries. He suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb in 2016; torn labrum and fractured shoulder in a November 2015 training accident; broken ribs (2015, 2010), punctured lung (2015), broken foot (2013), broken wrist (2008) and fractured vertebrae (2007, 2008).

“Unfortunately, he's gone through this before. It's never, 'why me' with him. I don't know how he does it, but he takes it well. He takes it in stride. I'm sure he's disappointed, but he's a true professional. He's just going to get healthy and get back to riding again. That's what he does,” Leonard said. “He's a great person.”

Laurel's summer meet, which had been racing Fridays and Saturdays since May 30, will move to a three-day schedule starting Thursday, July 23. Racing will be conducted Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through Saturday, Aug. 22.

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