Fogelsonger Cleared to Ride at Santa Anita

Eclipse Award-winning jockey Ryan Fogelsonger, who has been sidelined with a tear in his shoulder muscle since a spill at Hollywood Park on Dec. 12, has been cleared to ride by doctors and should be aboard his first horses for workouts Thursday morning, agent Michelle Barsotti said.

The 22-year-old rider also has been named to ride one mount on Friday's card, Sky Reality, in the first race for trainer Howie Zucker.

"He's excited, I'm excited," Barsotti said. "He's absolutely thrilled to be back and to be with the horses."

Fogelsonger, who won the Eclipse as 2002's top apprentice rider and has been nominated for the same honor again this year, relocated to California from his native Maryland last summer.

He was one of the Maryland circuit's top jockeys, winning riding titles and Laurel and Colonial Downs and transferred a good portion of that success to the West Coast, accepting mounts from some of the top trainers. Last year he won 278 races from 1,388 mounts for total purses of $5,903,822.