Jockey Kimura will be sidelined about a month after leg surgery

Jockey Kazushi Kimura will miss about a month of racing after having surgery Thursday on his lower left leg.

Kimura's agent, Brian Beach, said the surgery was a minor outpatient procedure. "He'll be going home today," he said Thursday afternoon. Daily Racing Form reported the news earlier in the day.

Kimura was injured in the gate at Santa Anita on Jan. 16.

"The filly tried to flip, and he got caught between the butt of the filly and the tailgate and kind of mangled up his ankle and lower leg there," Beach said. "But initially we didn't think it was that bad. Thought it was like a high ankle sprain, bone bruising type of situation, and we just couldn't get it to cooperate with icing and therapy and stuff like that. So we eventually had to see a specialist, and so he recommended surgery just to speed up the recovery process."

Kimura had a 42: 5-5-5 record in the current Santa Anita meet, which began Dec. 26. He won the Sovereign Award as Canada's best jockey in 2021 and 2022 and as best apprentice jockey in 2018. He also won an Eclipse award in 2019 as the best apprentice jockey in North America.