Jockey Jorge Chavez sustained a broken collarbone and will be sidelined for at least six weeks following a spill on Calder's closing card, said his agent, Kevin Meyocks.According to Meyocks, the jockey broke his collarbone in five places but does not need surgery. He was injured in the 12th race at Calder on Monday when his mount, 3-year-old Sweet Zeena, took a bad step near the three-eighths pole and unseated her rider. The filly was unharmed. Following the spill, 44-year-old Chavez was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. with a bloody nose and suspected shoulder injuries, and x-rays revealed the broken collarbone. Dr. Mark Hemmerman, a Florida-based orthopedic specialist, confirmed the diagnosis on Tuesday.
"This is a bad time for any kind of injury to happen, but it could have been much worse," Meyocks said. "We'll just have to tolerate the time off and hope to come back as strong as we were at Calder."Chavez rode 11 races and three winners on the final day of the Tropical at Calder 2005-2006 meet in an attempt to earn the riding title, but came up short and finished the meet with a 67-63-49 standing out of 350 starts. Brazilian Manoel Cruz took the title with 68 victories.1999's Eclipse Award winning jockey, Chavez earned his only two Calder and Tropical at Calder riding titles seventeen years ago in 1988, a few months after immigrating to the United States from Peru.
