Jockey Edgar Prado, sidelined with a broken right ankle from a Sept. 1 racing accident at Saratoga, began physical therapy Sept. 28 and may get back on horses within two weeks if all goes well, said his agent, Bob Frieze.
“He got the cast off yesterday and went to therapy in Garden City (N.Y.) this morning,” Frieze said Sept. 28. “With some luck, the doctor said he could be riding again within two weeks. But we’re just going to take it day by day.”
"It was a good session," Prado said by phone Sept. 28. "It was the first day, so we started slow -- worked on getting some movement in the ankle, did some massage and bike riding, and that was it. Any time you take a cast off after three weeks there's going to be some pain related, but nothing I could't handle."
The jockey was injured while riding the Christophe Clement-trained Admiral Bird to a second-place finish for Dogwood Stable in the seventh race Sept. 1. He was galloping out around the clubhouse turn on the track’s inner turf course and was unseated when two horses bumped into his mount. Admiral Bird was not injured.
Prado was transported to Albany Medical Center and diagnosed with a broken ankle. He underwent surgery that evening; Dr. Rick Alfred inserted four screws to stabilize the injury. The jockey was hospitalized two nights before having a cast put on the ankle. He spent time in Florida and his native Peru while recovering over the past three weeks, he said.
“So far everything looks good,” Frieze said. “We’re hoping we could make it (to the Oct. 26-27 Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships), but we don’t know. The therapist did say he was further along than he thought he would be.”
Said Prado: "The therapist was surprised (the ankle) is healing pretty well. I have good movement. I'll try to be in therapy every day and we'll see what happens; we're going to play the comeback by ear. I don't think it would be fair for anybody if I come back before I’m ready."
Last year, Prado rode Round Pond to victory in the Emirates Airlines Breeders’ Cup Distaff (gr. I). In 2005, he was aboard Folklore to win the Gray Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), and he also piloted Silver Train to victory in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I).
