Jockey Jose Batista is sidelined after Monmouth spill

Jockey Jose Batista will be sidelined three to six weeks after suffering fractures to both his heel and ankle after being unseated in Friday’s sixth race at Monmouth Park according to track Medical Director Dr. Angelo Chinnici.

Batista was injured when Sip’n Dip hit the rail and fell in the early stages of the mile and sixteenth turf race on Friday. He was taken by ambulance to Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch for X-rays following the incident.

Chinnici said Batista is “casted and resting” after being released from the hospital.

The 25-year-old Panamanian has eight wins from 76 mounts at the Monmouth Park meet. That includes an allowance win May 28 with Confessor, who Batista had been scheduled to ride in the Battery Park Stakes at Delaware Park on Saturday. He has 41 winners from 298 mounts overall this year, and achieved a graded stakes placing when he rode Floriform to a third-place finish behind Shirl's Speight in the Tampa Bay Stakes (G3) on February 5.