Battered jockeys licking their wounds

It's been a rough recent stretch for area jockeys.

Ramon Dominguez, the perennial leader at Delaware Park, injured his right knee in a spill at Aqueduct on Feb. 2 but will return Wednesday in New York.

Dominguez, 30, is still battling for the lead in the riders' standings at the Big A despite his forced absence.

"The doctor said this week I had a bad bone bruise and a slight cartilage tear," he said yesterday. "But he said I could start riding again. I don't feel any pain and will exercise horses at Delaware Park in the next few days."

Dominguez lives near Delaware Park and is odds-on to be the leading rider when the Stanton track reopens on April 28.

Hector Ramos suffered a hairline fracture of his pelvis on Wednesday at Philadelphia Park when his mount in the seventh race, Boot Camp, broke down and fell.

Ramos, 25, from Puerto Rico, is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks, according to his agent, Joe Spaziano.

Boot Camp was euthanized on the track.

Hiram Rivera will be idle two months after fracturing two bones in his ankle when his mount, Touchdown, broke down at Philadelphia Park on Feb. 13.

Touchdown was also euthanized.

Joe Hampshire Jr. suffered a serious bout with the flu for one week, then was further delayed by a sinus infection that forced him to miss seven days of racing.

"They said I had an infection in the blood that made the side of my face so swollen that my right eye was completely shut," Hampshire said yesterday. "I spent two days at Kennedy Hospital."

Hampshire, 43, will resume riding tomorrow at the Bensalem track.

Control System returns. You can't blame Renee Nodine if she is excited about the possibilities of Control System, whom she bred on her farm near Campbelltown, Lebanon County.

Control System, a daughter of Lion Hearted, who was sired by Storm Cat, won her career debut at Philadelphia Park on Jan. 23 by 111/2 lengths, then returned to win an allowance race at the Bensalem track by 91/4 lengths on Sunday.

Trained by Mike Trombetta and ridden by Julien Pimentel, Control System was clocked in 1:10 2/5 for the six furlongs on Sunday while never asked for her best run.

Nodine, a veterinarian, owns the 3-year-old filly along with Tom McClay and Harry Nye.

Control System is from a dam named Risk Aversion, who retired as a maiden after just four starts.

Nodine said Control System's next start would likely be in a stakes race at Laurel in Maryland, where she is stabled.

Round Pond comeback. The winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Distaff, owned by Rick Porter, will return to the races on March 11 at Gulfstream Park in the $200,000 Rampart Handicap at 11/8 miles.

"She's been doing great," trainer Michael Matz said of Round Pond yesterday from the Palm Meadows training facility in Florida. "She'll work five-eighths [this morning] and work again next week. She's a professional. She knows what it's all about."

More Pennsylvania-breds. Mark McDermott, executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, reports that about $400,000 monthly is expected to be targeted to the state's breeding industry from slot-machine revenues.

Both the quality and the volume of horses foaled in the state are increasing.

While the state has averaged about 900 foals annually in the past, about 1,300 or 1,400 are expected this year.

Penn National sidelined. The track in Grantville, near Harrisburg, has been victimized by cold and icy weather in recent weeks and has not run a live program since Feb. 1.

A reported five inches of ice was recently removed from the track surface.

Racing is expected to resume on Tuesday night.

Sizzling at Aqueduct. Philly Park trainer Ramon Preciado has won with four of his 10 starters this year in New York and will saddle the 7-year-old mare Amber Note in today's $65,000 Rare Treat Handicap.

Preciado has won two of three starts with Amber Note since taking her as trainer, and she was beaten by just a nose in her only defeat.

Presque Isle Downs to open. Pennsylvania's newest track will open its 2,000-slot casino on Wednesday in Summit Township, Erie County.

The track's first live thoroughbred race meeting is expected to begin in September.