HIALEAH — Nearly six months after sustaining serious facial injuries in a spill at Calder Race Course, apprentice jockey Douglas Portillo Jr. is days away from his return to the races.
Portillo, one of the hot apprentices last fall at Calder, hit the track hard on New Year’s Day when his mount, Victory Arch, broke down during a race.
But the spill itself was nothing compared to what was next for Portillo. A trailing horse kicked Portillo in the face, knocking out eight of his teeth and breaking his lower jaw.
Portillo, a 23-year-old native of Venezuela who first came to this country last August, is still missing the teeth (four upper and four lower). But his implants and crowns will be in place in two weeks, so he isn’t particularly worried about the physical injuries.
What has Portillo on edge is getting his career started anew.
“Everything was going well for me. I had a lot of confidence,” Portillo said Saturday. “It’s difficult for me right now. But I never lost the desire. I’m hungry. I’m hungry to ride and win again.”
Portillo, who has used his spare time to study English in night school, has been working horses in the morning for a couple of months, and was recently thrown from a horse leaving the gate. Portillo sustained a slight knee injury in the spill, but said his comeback was not affected. He has long been planning a return on Calder’s Opening Day.
“He’s been very patient,” agent Freddy Lucero said. “Everybody is looking forward to seeing him ride again. All of the top trainers have told us they want to give him a shot.”
With a victory behind 3-year-old maiden filly pacer Apaches Dream Girl in Pompano Harness’ sixth race Wednesday night, driver-trainer William Popfinger continued his streak of winning at least one race in each of Pompano’s 30 seasons.
Popfinger, 56, of Lighthouse Point, won his first career race in 1953, and was at Pompano when it opened in 1964. The victory Wednesday gave him 1,503 for his career, which includes the 1978 Little Brown Jug with Happy Escort, the 1979 Cane Pace with Happy Motoring and the 1984 Sheppard Pace with Praised Dignity…
They say Las Vegas puts out a line on everything, but this is ridiculous. Michael Roxborough of Las Vegas Sports Consultants established odds on which track will host the 1997 Breeders’ Cup. Del Mar is Roxy’s 3-2 favorite, and Gulfstream Park is the 15-1 fifth choice.
The Gulfstream odds should be longer because there is little chance the Breeders’ Cup will return for a third South Florida engagement before 1998. After the 1996 Cup at Woodbine, the event will have been contested on the West Coast only twice in nine years, so it is almost certainly headed back west for ’97…
Tracks in trouble: Garden State Park’s uncertain future has been grabbing headlines in thoroughbred publications, but slipping from existence much more quietly is 119-year-old Greenwood Raceway near Toronto. The Ontario Jockey Club announced it will close Greenwood within two years and sell it to developers…
Giant Chill, last year’s champion 2-year-old trotting colt and winter-book favorite to win the Hambletonian, was set back with a fifth-place finish in a stakes final last weekend at Freehold Raceway. Giant Chill drifted out badly while on the lead, went off stride on the final turn and repeatedly broke stride down the stretch.
Driver John Patterson Jr. said the colt had equipment problems that can be sorted out, but the colt’s future is in question.
“We want to go for the Triple Crown,” Patterson said, “but if we have to change our plans, then we have to change our plans.”
Village Jiffy, last year’s champion 2-year-old pacing colt, was third in his seasonal debut last weekend at Mohawk… New sulkies and their impact on speed continue to dominate harness racing. From Jan. 1 to April 1, there were 98 sub-1:54 miles at Meadowlands. The same time period last year saw 44 sub-1:54 miles. Two weeks ago, all 10 winners on a card at Mohawk Raceway set lifetime marks… The first crop from 1989 Harness Horse of the Year Matt’s Scooter hits the track this year, and he’s already had a winner. Grand Lady won a baby race at Rosecroft by 2 1/2 lengths, clocking her last half in :58 2/5…
The June 5 Nassau County Handicap at Belmont Park, the fifth race in the American Championship Racing Series, is expected to attract series leader Devil His Due, plus Missionary Ridge, Latin American, Valley Crossing, Offbeat, Widener winner Honest Ensign and West By West. Strike the Gold, who never factored in the Pimlico Special, might also be entered. Pistols and Roses is getting a rest until the July 24 Iselin at Monmouth.
