Fractured Tailbone Sidelines Sellers

(from Churchill Downs notes)
Jockey Shane Sellers will miss at least the next few days at Churchill Downs as he recovers from a fractured tailbone suffered in a paddock mishap on Thursday.

Sellers, 37, had experienced pain since he was unseated from a mount prior to the Thursday race, but his continuing discomfort prompted him to visit a Louisville area hospital early Saturday morning. Agent Fred Aime said a preliminary examination at the hospital revealed the fracture and a more thorough examination of Sellers' injury was scheduled Saturday afternoon.

"I took him off of his mounts today and tomorrow and I didn't put him on any horses on Tuesday," Aime said. "We should have more to go by a little later today."

Sellers actually landed on his feet when he was tossed from his mount in the paddock on Thursday, but he came down hard on his saddle before he hit the ground. Aime said it is too early to know whether the injury is serious or how long it may keep Sellers out of the saddle.

"There's nothing they can do to repair it," Aime said. "That's just one of those things that has to heal, and that just depends on how fast and how bad it is."

Sellers was off to a strong start in the fall racing session at Churchill Downs. His six wins included a romp in last Sunday's Iroquois (gr. III) aboard The Cliff's Edge, a promising 2-year-old colt that Sellers is scheduled to ride in the $200,000-added Kentucky Jockey Club (gr. II) on Nov. 29, the meet's closing day.

"We'll just hope for the best," said Aime. "Hopefully he'll be back for some of the stakes on the last weekend here. If not, then we'll go on to (the Fair Grounds in) New Orleans. We won't know very much until after he sees his doctor."

Sellers had missed two days of riding early in the week as he dealt with a case of gout and was injured on his first day of competition following that ailment.

His circumstances are very similar to a paddock mishap that has knocked fellow rider Robby Albarado out of competition. Albarado had missed two days of riding because of a bout with kidney stones, then suffered a fractured wrist as he tried to climb aboard a mount on his first day back in the saddle. Albarado will miss the rest of the Churchill Downs' fall schedule.