Knee Injury Might Sideline Stevens Rest of Meet

Jockey Gary Stevens will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee today at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and is almost certain to miss the remainder of the Del Mar meeting, which concludes Sept. 9.

An MRI done Monday afternoon found that Stevens, who currently leads the standings here with 28 victories, had torn the outside radial meniscus ligament when he was warming up Isitever, a 2-year-old maiden making the first start of his career, prior to the fourth race on Sunday. Owned by Mike Pegram and trained by Bob Baffert, Isitever jerked suddenly to his right and Stevens, who had surgery on his left knee in 1995 and arthroscopic surgery on his right last year, wrenched the knee. He knew immediately something was wrong and went to Scripps for X-rays.

The X-rays proved negative, but the MRI was scheduled as he continued to have pain and swelling.

Ron Anderson, Stevens’ agent, said the jockey, who tops the national standings with better than $12.3 million in purses, will begin rehabilitation immediately and hopes to return in two to three weeks. If he were to come back in 14 days, he could possibly ride the final Del Mar program.

Stevens’ injury means Belmont stakes winner Victory Gallop will need a new rider when he tries to turn the tables on Coronado’s Quest, who beat him in the Haskell Invitational on Aug. 9, in the $750,000 Travers on Saturday at Saratoga.