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‘They Should Have Stopped The Race’: Cedillo Suffers Neck Fracture In Del Mar Incident

Jockey Abel Cedillo will not require surgery for a fractured bone in his neck, reports the Daily Racing Form, which was incurred via a spill in the fourth race on Sunday at Del Mar. The injury will require four to six weeks of physical therapy.

Cedillo was aboard Get the Gold for trainer Kristin Mulhall in a one-mile maiden special weight race for California-breds when the colt was pinched badly coming out of the starting gate and fell, throwing the rider to the ground awkwardly. Get the Gold scrambled to his feet and was quickly apprehended, but Cedillo did not get up.

An ambulance positioned adjacent to the starting gate for the two-turn race – which began in front of the grandstand a short distance from the finish line – arrived shortly after the incident, but members of the starting gate crew were the first to attend to Cedillo. As the race continued, and medical personnel did not seem to take charge of the situation, the gate crew lifted Cedillo by his four limbs and carried him to the nearby winner's circle, thereby clearing the track and permitting the race to continue.

“I think it was a mistake,” Cedillo told DRF. “They shouldn't have touched me. They should have stopped the race.”

Josh Rubinstein, president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, declined to comment on whether safety protocols were properly followed, with the rider carried off the track as he was.

“Our number one priority is the safety for the rider and the horse,” Rubinstein said.

Cedillo, a native of Guatemala, has 1,594 career victories from 10,744 starts since kickinhg off his career in 2009. Among the horses he's ridden are G1 winners Mongolian Groom, Fighting Mad, Keeper Ofthe Stars, River Boyne and Maximum Security.

Jose Ortiz ‘Sore, But Good’ After Saratoga Spill; Targeting Wednesday Return To Saddle

Jockey Jose Ortiz was diagnosed with bruised ribs after a spill at Saratoga on Friday, July 21, according to bloodhorse.com. Winner of the leading rider title at Belmont Park's most recent meet, Ortiz was involved in a spill near the finish of the first race when he was unseated from Wesley Ward trainee Same Old Fears.

The rider was transported to Albany Medical Center for evaluation. Ward later reported that Same Old Fears was not injured in the incident.

Ortiz was on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday, breezing a horse for trainer Jonathan Thomas, and plans to be back in the saddle in the afternoon by Wednesday's card.

“I feel OK. Sore, but good,” Ortiz told bloodhorse.com. “I am just taking it day by day. It feels a little better every day, but I am still very sore.”

Abel Cedillo Taken To Local Hospital After Del Mar Spill

Jockey Abel Cedillo was taken to a local hospital after being thrown from his mount just after the start of Sunday's fourth race at Del Mar racetrack near San Diego, Calif.

Cedillo was fitted with a neck brace and placed on a backboard by medical personnel, then was taken away by ambulance. Jockey Diego Herrera, exchanged a few words with Cedillo and said the rider relayed that he was experiencing neck pain. According to Daily Racing Form, Cedillo was having X-rays taken Sunday evening.

Silver N Black, who finished third, was disqualified and placed last for interference at the start of the race.

Josh Rubinstein, president of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, declined to comment on whether safety protocols were properly followed after the incident. “Our number one priority is the safety for the rider and the horse,” Rubinstein said.

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Baffert Gearing Up For 35th Summer Campaign At Del Mar

Life is full of choices and sometimes you have to take a leap of faith. Trainer Bob Baffert did just that when he first came to Del Mar back in the early-1990s. It has proven to be the right move.

Baffert returns to Del Mar for his 35th season. He's enjoyed his share of success at the seaside oval where he holds the mark for the most wins by a trainer with 596 and the most stakes victories with 156. He's won the Del Mar Futurity (G1) a record 17 times, including the last two years, and the Pacific Classic (G1) six times.

But all of this never would have happened had the 70-year-old conditioner never took a leap of faith when he was first dabbling in Thoroughbred horses.

“I was still training Quarter Horses and I had a real good Quarter Horse to take to the All-American,” Baffert says. “But (trainer D. Wayne) Lukas told me if I wanted to succeed (in Thoroughbreds), I needed to get rid of all my Quarter Horses. I had to show I was all in. He said if I get rid of them my business will double because they don't like to see you doing both.”

Lukas would know. He had done the same thing years before.

“It was scary,” Baffert said, “because I was used to winning a lot of big Quarter Horse races. Two or three or four a week. Whereas here I was winning once every three months. At Santa Anita I ran last three times in a row.”

But then Baffert won three Cal-Cup races in 1991 and the rest is history.

“After that I went over to Los Alamitos and shut down my operation there,” Baffert said. “The last Quarter Horse race I won was with the son of my first winner at Los Alamitos.”

Now, two Triple Crowns, six Kentucky Derbys, four Eclipse Awards, 18 Breeders' Cups victories and a Hall of Fame induction later he is one of the most successful Thoroughbred trainers ever and is looking to add to that record this summer at Del Mar.

He shared the trainers title at Del Mar last year with Philip D'Amato winning 19 times. It was his first title at the seaside oval since 2003 and it was bolstered by a top-class group of 2-year-olds. He hopes to do it again in 2023, but said it's all up to the horses.

“We just let them develop on their own,” Baffert said. “Some can win early. You just don't know until you run them. They come in waves for getting ready, so some will get ready right away, some it takes longer. We don't push them.”

Baffert said the objective is to get some races into them and find out how they want to run.

“The main thing is to get races into these 2-year-olds because we want to have as many as we can for the Futurity at the end, which gets you ready for the Breeders' Cup.”

He mentioned Muth and Prince of Monaco when asked about his 2-year olds. Both broke their maidens already. He's pointing the pair to the Best Pal (G3) at Del Mar August 13. His 2-year-old filly by Arrogate, Dua, broke her maiden Saturday at Del Mar.

As for his older horses, Baffert says Defunded, arguably the top handicap horse in the nation, is being pointed to the San Diego (G2) July 29 with the Pacific Classic being the long-term goal.

National Treasure and Reincarnate are on the grounds, but they have flight plans for upstate New York and the Travers (G1) at Saratoga. Arabian Lion has been nominated for the Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar also on July 29, but he may also head to Saratoga.

Baffert doesn't have a concrete plan yet for Cave Rock, Del Mar's top 2-year-old last year, and Speed Boat Beach, who set the record for 5½ furlongs at Del Mar last summer, has been turned out.

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