Carmouche is out 8-10 weeks after spill at Belmont Park
Elmont, N.Y.
Jockey Kendrick Carmouche said he will miss eight to 10 weeks after suffering a broken right ankle while falling and being stepped on by his horse to start the last race Saturday at Belmont Park.
But do not write him off for the Saratoga summer.
“No, I’m not missing Saratoga,” he told a couple reporters Sunday while leaning on crutches near a Belmont Park horse tunnel. “I’ll be there in the middle of summer.”
Carmouche was dismounted as the gates flew open for Saturday’s 13th race. He was on board Kentucky Pharoah, a 3-year-old American Pharoah colt trained by Jack Sisterson. A partially obstructed video replay appeared to show Carmouche leaning backward just as the 1 1/8-mile inner-turf allowance race started.
“When he jumped out of the gate, he popped me up,” Carmouche said. “I didn’t know where the horse was or nothing. I was just looking to land in a good spot. It’s just unfortunate that the horse stepped on me.”
The horse ran loose for the rest of the race and was chased by an outrider down the homestretch before being corralled unharmed near the end of the clubhouse turn.
Carmouche said he would fly to Tennessee for surgery Monday. He pointed to the malleolus – the round bones above his feet – while explaining where he suffered breaks on both sides of his ankle.
“I’ve got to get a plate and screws,” he said. “That’s what the doctor told me.”
Carmouche was also upbeat, which is hardly unusual for him.
“This isn’t going to stop me,” he said. “This is nothing. My femur (fracture in 2018) was worse. I’m not even in pain. This thing won’t bother me. Just say prayers for me. God is great, man. You all are talking to me now.”
Going into Sunday’s races, Carmouche, 37, was tied for fifth in the Belmont jockey standings, winning 16 races from 147 starts. He finished a close second to Eric Cancel during the winter at Aqueduct.
Carmouche rode Bourbonic to a fifth-place finish in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, five weeks after they finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby. He was the first Black jockey to compete in the Derby in eight years.