Apprentice Luzzi Prepares to Return

Apprentice jockey Lane Luzzi, who fractured his collarbone in a riding accident June 9, has been cleared to begin galloping horses Monday.

Luzzi, who had just moved his tack from Maryland to Florida in May, had won with three of his first nine mounts before he went down in the third race June 9 while racing in tight company down the stretch.

"I had surgery because I was told if I didn't it may bother me as I got older," said Luzzi, who returned to South Florida from New York over the weekend. "The surgery went well. I flew to New York the same night I went down and had the surgery."

Said Luzzi of the accident, "You live and learn.

"Sometimes you do things in a race you wouldn't do again," he said. "If I could go back and ride that race again, I probably would have done something different. Like I said, it was a learning experience. It's too bad because I got off to a great start. The highs are high and the lows are low."

Luzzi was planning on galloping his first horse Monday morning.

"We don't have a set date when I will ride, but I can get on horses beginning Monday," he said. "I think we'll take a few days, see how I feel, and take it from there."