McCarthy sidelined at least two months with broken tibia

Promising apprentice rider Trevor McCarthy will miss eight-to-10

weeks with a broken left tibia, according to his agent Scott Silver. McCarthy

was injured Thursday morning at Laurel Park during training hours when a horse he was

working wheeled and dropped the jockey. The 18-year-old will have surgery

Monday.

"It really wasn't a bad fall," Silver said. "It was the way he landed."

McCarthy, who finished second in the recently completed

Laurel Park winter meet, won six races during the opening week of the Pimlico spring stand, including a riding triple last Thursday. He began the

day ranked 12th in North America with 69 victories.

"The timing isn't great because we had our sights on the

Eclipse Award," Silver added. "But the doctors are telling us it should be a

quick healing process. Hopefully he'll be back on horses in six weeks."

McCarthy won a career-best four races on January 1 and

February 27 at Laurel, and has 14 multiple-win afternoons in Maryland this year.

He rode his first stakes winner on February 16, guiding Concealed Identity to

victory in the John B. Campbell Stakes.

Maryland-based apprentice riders have captured nine of the

42 Eclipse Awards for outstanding apprentice, with Chris McCarron (1974), Ronnie

Franklin (1978), Alberto Delgado (1982), Allen Stacy (1986), Kent Desormeaux

(1987), Mike Luzzi (1989), Mark Johnston (1990), Jeremy Rose (2001) and Ryan

Fogelsonger (2002) all being honored.