Smullen Still on Road to Recovery

It has been a long year for Heather Smullen. The exercise rider for trainer Barclay Tagg has been recovering from a horrid riding accident that saw her break her tibia and fibula in her right leg. It happened at the end of the 2021 meet at Saratoga Race Course, and the road to recovery has been slow.

She was the familiar partner of 2020 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1) winner Tiz the Law  . She worked the New York-bred for much of his racing career in addition to several other horses in the Tagg barn.

The 40-year-old Smullen, the niece of Tagg's assistant Robin Smullen, injured herself when Blitz to Win  jumped on the rail at Saratoga on the far turn and landed on her knee.

Smullen had surgery last September and, at the start of this year's meet, had another one.

"They had to remove a growth that had developed," she said. "They put a plate and seven screws on the fibula and bone and grafted the area that is not healed."

Getting back to work for the Tagg barn is a goal, but she isn't sure if that will ever happen.

"I don't know if I will be able to," she said. "If you aren't going to be able to do it well, you don't want to do it. If I can't hold a squat position, I won't be able to gallop."

Blitz to Win, owned by Tiz the Law's connections, Sackatoga Stable, is still in training and finished fifth in an allowance race at Saratoga Aug. 20.

Smullen, who calls Florida home, has been at Saratoga for the entire meet because she had the surgery in the Capital Region and her doctors are here. 

"I miss the horses, but I still get to be around them, which is nice," she said. "You can't sit around at home and do nothing. I do miss riding nice horses. The obstinate ones that are being ridiculous, I don't miss them too much."

Smullen said she will see how long it takes for her leg to fully heal before deciding what is next for her career. She estimates that her right leg is at 75 percent.

"We will just wait and see how it heals," she said. "Right now, it's sore, but it's stable."