Rider Lopez Out After Shoulder Surgery

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Veteran jockey Chuck C. Lopez, recuperating in Florida from rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder Oct. 12, said he expects to be out of action for three months.

"I've been here before," said the 44-year-old Lopez. "When the doctor was showing me how to change the dressing, he started telling me the other things I needed to do. I told him that this wasn't new to me and that I knew the procedures."

Lopez, has been out of racing action since Sept. 11, when his mount Quoit Alarming unseated him going down the backstretch at Monmouth Park.

"My shoulder is still pretty swollen," Lopez said. "I had a lot pain right after the surgery, but it's getting better steadily. Next Monday I have to have x-rays taken to make sure the shoulder is still attached. It's going to be at least four weeks before I can begin rehabbing it, and then six to eight weeks of that. So it'll be at least three months from right now before I can gallop a horse."

Lopez captured last year's riding championship at the Meadowlands, his first Big M title since his apprentice year in 1979. A multiple graded stakes winning rider, Lopez has won riding titles at Monmouth Park, Philadelphia Park and Atlantic City Racecourse.

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