Krone Hopes to Ride by June

Julie Krone, one of the most successful jockeys of the last five years, may be riding again by June, now that an arm she broke last fall finally is healing.

Krone learned Tuesday that a bone graft operation she underwent on March 8 was a success.

“I’m so relieved,” she said. “I was about ready to go out and find a bridge somewhere.”

Krone, 26, said she hopes to resume riding at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., near where she lives.

“That’s my target. Monmouth opens on June 1, so that’s when I’d like to come back,” she said during a telephone interview from her home.

The prognosis of recovery was made by Dr. Seth Kane, an orthopedic specialist who performed the bone graft operation.

“I was so nervous. I even started thinking it wasn’t going to heal ever,” Krone said. “I’m still on the EBI machine. I use it every night for 10 hours when I go to bed. That’s helping now, too.

“Changing an ‘if’ to a ‘when’--what a difference that makes,” she said.

Krone, the leading rider at the Meadowlands last year, broke her arm in a spill in November. Doctors determined last winter, however, that the arm was not healing, so she underwent electrical treatments called EBI that were designed to promote healing of the bone in her right arm.

When that treatment did not work, she underwent bone graft surgery last month at Hackensack Medical Center in New Jersey.

“I was kind of getting to the point of where I was tired of entertaining myself,” said Krone, the most successful woman jockey ever. “I was just about ready to start getting discouraged.

“Today, I was driving home so happy, listening to music and singing.”

Krone’s arm is in a removable cast, jointed at the elbow. She removes the cast 15 minutes a day for exercise. She said the cast could be off in 2 1/2 weeks, if all goes well.

Krone said the bone graft operation, originally expected to take about 2 1/2 hours, lasted 4 1/2 hours.

“The first time they operated, there wasn’t enough contact between the two pieces of bone. The doctor put in a seven-screw plate, but the bone was still separated. So he put a clamp on my arm and readjusted the screw plate, then he filled the old holes with more bone graft.”

Krone said she expects to be exercising soon on a mechanical horse designed by former jockey Frank Lovato.

“It simulates riding,” she said. “It’ll help build up my forearms, legs and shoulders.”