Jockey Jennifer Schmidt was injured in an accident during training hours last Friday at Blue Ribbon Downs when the horse she was aboard ducked into the rail. She suffered a compound fracture in her left arm as well as two broken ribs and a few other complications related to the injury. Schmidt was the co-leading quarter horse jockey at the 2007 Canterbury meet. Her plans to ride in the upcoming Will Rogers Downs meet before returning to Shakopee are now on hold as she begins what could be a long road to recovery. With pins and a rod in her left arm the best case scenario would be four to six weeks before returning to the saddle. Jockeys are in general a fearless lot doing a job that provides plenty of glory when on top of the game but that glory and the livelihood that goes along with it can disappear in the blink of an eye. The race fans at Canterbury have always been extremely generous in their contributions to theDon MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund. In fact Canterbury was the number one fund raiser for the fund for the seventh consecutive year. Your contributions don’t go unnoticed by the industry.
The 2006 Canterbury champion 2-year-old of the meet Caitri returned to action on Tuesday in the tenth race at Sunland Park. The daughter of Demidoff, bred in Minnesota by Kissoon Thoroughbreds, won both of her starts here in ’06, both times beating Run With Joy by open lengths. Caitri’s victory in the Northern Lights Debutante was nothing short of stunning as she pressed a quick pace before taking command and drawing off to win by more than 11 lengths. She has not raced since her fourth place finish in the Prairie Meadows Debutante in Sept. 2006. Tuesday at Sunland she broke from the outside post, raced wide and faded, finishing fifth in a seven horse claiming sprint.
