Franco Out With Cracked Shoulder After Del Mar Spill

Jockey Geovanni Franco has been diagnosed with a cracked shoulder and may be out for the rest of the Del Mar summer meet, his agent Jack Carava informed track publicity. Franco also injured a knee and will undergo magnetic resonance imaging, commonly referred to as an MRI, in the coming days.

Franco was injured in a spill during the sixth race at Del Mar July 26. Toward the rear of the pack aboard Smooth Salute , he was unseated near the three-eighths pole. Following a stewards' inquiry, Zalamo , who crossed the wire eighth under Jeremy Laprida, was disqualified and demoted to ninth. The Equibase chart noted Zalamo shifted in and knocked seventh-place Lahaina Flavor  into Smooth Salute, leading to Franco being unseated. Smooth Salute had been racing inside of those rivals at the time of the incident.

Stewards later issued Laprida a careless-riding suspension for seven racing days "for altering course without sufficient clearance in the turn, causing interference."

Franco, who is based in Southern California, is a multiple grade 1-winning rider with 1,039 victories in North American Thoroughbred races. He had two wins during the initial weeks of the Del Mar meet.