Garcia replaces injured Rosario on Game On Dude

Del Mar, CA (Sports Network) – Pacific Classic favorite Game On Dude will be ridden Sunday in the 1 1/4-mile race at Del Mar by Martin Garcia who replaces the injured Joel Rosario. Rosario was hurt on Friday at Saratoga Race Course.

Garcia was available to ride Game On Dude after his mount in the $1 million race, Liaison, was scratched to run next Saturday. The jockey has ridden the 6-year-old gelding three times before and has been aboard for morning workouts.

“Yes,” Garcia said Saturday morning during the Donuts At Del Mar program. “It’s about time.”

Rosario was aboard Casual Elegance in the seventh race Friday and took a spill after the horse stumbled to a last-place finish. He did not ride for the remainder of the card. The nation’s leading jockey in wins and purse money, Rosario will be sidelined for six weeks with a fractured bone of the left foot.

“When a guy like Rosario goes in for X-rays, it’s not good,” Game On Dude and Liaison’s trainer Bob Baffert said. “We knew right then we’d have to find a replacement. I started figuring out who was open. My main concern is the horse, but he’s easy to ride.”

Rosario was set to fill in for Mike Smith on Game On Dude because Smith will be at Saratoga to ride champion female Royal Delta in the $600,000 Personal Ensign Invitational.

Categorized in: Horses