LITTLE ROCK — Borel aims for return in January
The agent for twotime Oaklawn Park riding champion Calvin Borel said the jockey is expected to make a full recovery after undergoing surgery last Sunday in Louisville, Ky., to repair a broken jaw.
Jerry Hissam of Hot Springs said Borel, 44, is expected to resume riding when Oaklawn’s 2011 meeting begins Jan. 14.
Borel was injured after his mount, Aces N Kings, bolted on the second turn of the $1 million Grade III Delta Jackpot on Nov. 20 at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.
After falling, Borel’s jaw was broken when he was struck under the chin by one of Aces N Kings’ hooves or the hoof of a trailing horse, Hissam said.
Hissam said Borel suffered a “clean” fracture on the right side of his face, “crushed” fractures on the left side of his face and a 4-inch gash under his chin.
“He was very lucky, because another inch or so lower and he could have crushed his larynx,” Hissam said. “If the jawbone gives, he possibly could have broken his neck.”
Depending on doctor’s appointments, Borel could begin working horses in Hot Springs about 10 days before the Oaklawn meeting begins, Hissam said.
Borel, who lives in Louisville, Ky., was Oaklawn’s leading rider in 1995 and 2001.
Borel has won three of the past four runnings of the Kentucky Derby, including this year aboard Super Saver. Near the wire
The long-running sagainvolving It’s a Bird, who was disqualified from his victory in the $500,000 Grade II Oaklawn Handicap in 2009, is nearing its end.
Byron Freeland of Little Rock, attorney for the Arkansas Racing Commission, said the connections of It’s a Bird, the estate of Edmund Gann and trainer Marty Wolfson, aren’t appealing a Pulaski County Circuit judge’s ruling last summer to uphold the medication-related disqualification.
It’s a Bird was disqualified after testing positive for naproxen, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory that is sold for human use under the brand name Aleve.
Arkansas has a zerotolerance policy regarding naproxen on race day.
Judge Alice Gray, on Sept.
9, affirmed the Arkansas Racing Commission’s decision to disqualify It’s a Bird and signed her order Oct. 14.
Freeland said the 30-day window to appeal to the Arkansas Supreme Court has passed.
There is a 45-day window, from the time the order is signed, to return the $300,000 winner’s share to the ARCfor redistribution, Freeland said.
The horse’s connections appealed to circuit court after the commission voted 4-0 in July 2009 to disqualify It’s a Bird.
It’s a Bird won the Oaklawn Handicap by 6 lengths over Runforthedoe.
Jonesboro, owned by Mike Langford of Jonesboro, finished another neck back in third.
In addition to ordering redistribution of the purse, the ARC fined the Floridabased Wolfson $500.
It’s a Bird was retired in January and his owner, Edmund Gann, died in February.
A different breed
Steve Wren of Prescott, who retired from training after the 2010 Oaklawn meeting, is in the full-time cattle business, with farms in Prescott and Texarkana.
Wren, 58, said his company, Wren Land & Cattle Co. Inc., buys calves weighing 400 pounds and attempts to sell them at about 800 pounds.
“We just put weight on them, graze them and sell them at auction,” Wren said.
“Kind of like pinhooking, but it’s probably not near as good.”
In the thoroughbred industry, pinhookers buy yearlings at summer and fall sales with the intent of turning a profit by selling them in 2-year-old sales.
Although he’s dabbled in the cattle business the last decade, Wren is best known for his 20-year thoroughbred partnership with owners Kaaren and Hays Biggs of Springdale.
Top horses in the Wren-Biggs collaboration included Mr. Jester, winner of the $1 million Delta Jackpot Stakes in 2003; Miss Seffens, a multiple stakes winner of $502,600, and Etbauer, winner of the Grade III Rebel Stakes in 1999.
But after Hays Biggs died in 2003, his wife gradually began to phase out the racing operation.
After racing her first two foals, Biggs sold Miss Seffens in foal to Speightstown.
The fourth foal out of Miss Seffens, More Than Real, won this year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
“I was so proud of that,” Wren said. “That made me happy. I’m glad we had a little something to do with that.”
Wren said he has no plans at this time to return to training, adding he “probably” won’t attend the 2011 Oaklawn meeting.
“I’ve built a cabin over there at Cypress Bayou, toward Millwood Lake,” Wren said. “We’re fixing to go duck hunting and deer hunting and stay out of trouble.”
A former jockey, Wren saddled his first winner Oct.
31, 1979, at Louisiana Downs, and won 234 races and purse earnings of $5,431,914 in his career, according to Daily Racing Form.
His final starter, Mac Dehere, won on closing day of the 2010 Oaklawn meeting.
Sports, Pages 29 on 11/28/2010