Desormeaux, Almeida Shaken in Racing Spill

Jockeys Kent Desormeaux and Goncalino Almeida escaped serious injury in a spill in the first race Thursday at Santa Anita.

Riding favorite Dancing Generation in the $32,000 claiming race, Desormeaux went down when the 3-year-old broke the cannon bone in her right front leg. Double Vanilla, behind Dancing Generation and ridden by Almeida, tripped over the fallen filly and Almeida was thrown.

Desormeaux, complaining of a headache, took off his next three mounts, but returned to ride in the sixth and seventh races.

Almeida didn’t ride the second race, but returned to win on favored Join The Huddle in the fourth.

On Monday, Fernando Valenzuela suffered a serious back injury in a three-horse spill and will be out six to eight weeks. Chris McCarron, who suffered bruised ribs in the same spill, was off his mounts again Thursday and is not expected to ride today.