Jockey Panici suffers broken ribs in Gulfstream Park spill

Jockey Luca Panici will miss between two and three weeks with broken ribs after a spill in Friday's fourth race at Gulfstream Park.

Panici, the Italian-born rider, was aboard trainer William Hickey’s Mrs. Miniver when the 3-year-old filly collapsed in the early stages of a five-furlong turf sprint at the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track. Panici was unseated.

“Unfortunately, the horse had a heart attack," Panici’s agent, Kevin Meyocks, said on Saturday. "Not too far into the race, she went down."

Panici has had a rough stretch with injuries over the last few months. He suffered fractures in his right foot early last November following an incident in the Gulfstream Park West paddock when he was thrown from his mount and a horse stepped on his foot. He returned to racing in December.

On Feb. 21, he suffered a broken collarbone after being thrown from his mount of Terrible Tara in the tenth race at Gulfstream Park. Panici resumed riding on March 28.

“It’s an unfortunate part of the business. Luckily, every time he’s been able to get up and walk away, it’s nothing too serious,” Meyocks said. “Same with this time, it’s two broken ribs. They say it’ll be about two to three weeks. Luckily that’s it. It could have been a lot worse.”

Panici missed scheduled mounts in the sixth, eighth, ninth, and tenth races at Gulfstream on Friday due to his injury. He was, however, able to walk off the track following the incident in the fourth race.

“He was having a little pain in his shoulder and his back. But ultimately he went, just to be on the safe side, he went in to get an ultrasound and x-rays. I believe it was his fourth and sixth rib,” Meyocks said. “He said he feels a lot better than he has the last couple times he was injured.”

The jockey began riding in his native Italy before coming to the U.S. as an exercise rider. He started competing in America in 2005. The son of renowned Italian jockey Vittorio Panici, Luca returned to Italy for some time before moving back to the U.S. in 2009.

Panici became a multiple graded stakes-winning jockey when guiding Sole Volante to victory in the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) in February at Tampa Bay Downs.

A winner of 675 North American races from 7,124 mounts, Panici also rode Ete Indien to a second-place finish in the Holy Bull (G3) but missed out on his Fountain of Youth (G2) win due to injury.

Meyocks knows that, again, Panici will be ready to go as soon as possible.

“We know the routine," Meyocks said. "Just rest up, heal up and get back out there and get back to winning."