Pimentel sidelined with back and knee injuries

Journeyman jockey Julian Pimentel will miss the rest of Laurel Park’s summer meet and at least the early part of its fall stand with back and knee injuries suffered in a spill during training hours July 1.

Agent Roniel Garcia said Pimentel, 36, fractured the T-12 vertebrae in his back and tore the meniscus and broke the kneecap in his left knee when the horse he was exercising fell past the second wire and landed on him. The horse was did not break down and was unhurt, Garcia said.

 

Pimentel was transported to the hospital where he was diagnosed and placed in a brace on both his back and his knee. Garcia said he is scheduled to visit a specialist July 11 to further assess the injury.

 

“Right now he’s in a brace. He can barely move,” Garcia said. “The doctor in the hospital said as long as he doesn’t move and stays straight with the brace on his back, the vertebrae should heal. In another six weeks they’re going to do an MRI again and if it’s not healing right then they have to do surgery and insert steel rods in his back.

 

“The brace on his knee goes from his thigh all the way down so he cannot move the knee, and the brace on his back is around his lower waist so he cannot bend over,” he added. “It could have been worse. He could have been paralyzed or something. He was unconscious. He went down and the horse hit him and went on top of him. Thank God he was wearing a vest.”

 

Pimentel, a native of Columbia, has won more than 1,500 races in North America. He ranks sixth in purses ($239,634) and eighth in wins (eight) at Laurel’s current summer meet which began June 9 and ends Aug. 20. The 60-day fall meet is set to open Sept. 8.