Stevens Injured in Spill at Del Mar

First place in the jockey standings at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is suddenly not a very safe place to be.

Last week, Eddie Delahoussaye appeared to be running away with the riding title until he was suspended for five days because of an infraction in the fourth race Sept. 1. Friday, Gary Stevens, who recently had tied Delahoussaye with 41 victories, was thrown off his mount in the third and suffered a fractured right wrist and cuts on his face that required stitches.

Stevens, seeking to become the first jockey since Willie Shoemaker to win three consecutive Del Mar riding titles, will be out at least a month, agent Ray Kravagna said. Stevens was scheduled to ride Winning Colors in the $100,000 Maskette Stakes Saturday at Belmont Park and On The Line in the $200,000 Budweiser Breeders Cup Sunday at Del Mar.

The accident occurred when Stevens’ horse, Bin Of Ice, ran into the inside rail midway through the stretch. The horse attempted to jump the plastic rail but could not clear it, causing it to splinter into many pieces.

Trainer Craig Lewis said his horse “was pretty cut up and took a lot of stitches.” Lewis also said a sliver of the railing stuck in the horse’s shoulder.

“I feel bad about it,” Lewis said. “It’s one of those occurrences in racing. It looked to me like (Stevens) tried to go between two horses, but he was forced to go inside, which was the right move.”

Stevens spent the night at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla and was to undergo surgery late Friday for his fractured wrist.

The list of jockeys being unseated at Del Mar is a growing. Amir Cedeno suffered a sprained wrist after a fall; Robbie Davis was shaken up but did not miss any riding time; Fernando Valenzuela was thrown twice in a day and sustained a gash to the back of his head, sidelining him for two weeks; Tony Guymon broke his collarbone and wrist and is still out and Stevens fell twice in one day two weeks but escaped serious injury.

Laffit Pincay Jr., who broke 10 ribs when he was thrown last year, said he’s not sure why so many jockeys have fallen.

“I don’t know what it is; the track is safe,” Pincay said. “It seems horses get afraid if the outside horse comes in. That’s how I got hurt last year.”

In the day’s feature race, Jesus Castanon, 16, became the first apprentice to win a Del Mar stakes race since Corey Black in the 1986 Debutante when he guided Affirmed Classic to a 1 1/2-length victory in the $79,650 Torrey Pines Stakes.

“I was never really worried,” Castanon said. “The horse was real strong coming up to the quarter pole. I hit her four or five times in the stretch.”

Affirmed Classis paid $5.40, $3 and $2.20, Approved To Fly $3 and $2.20 and Sticky Wile $2.20.