New dad Tyler Gaffalione is back, but will he make July 4 fest?
Star jockey is racing for the first time since injury leave — where he’ll be on the Fourth, and when he’s returning to the Spa.
You are reading a sneak peek version of the Dispatch: Daily News in the Spa City.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione is back from injury leave, but you won’t see him at Saratoga Race Course during its special July 4th Racing Festival. The new dad will be down at Ellis Park instead.
While out on injury leave (he broke his left ankle March 26 at Gulfstream Park), Tyler and his wife, Casi, welcomed their first child, son Tatum, in late May.
The jockey, 30, was released June 25 and riding again June 26, his agent, Matthew Muzikar, told the Paulick Report as reported in a June 26 article. Gaffalione is listed on seven races at Ellis Park on July 3, according to the outlet.
Muzikar said the new dad will be based in Kentucky and ride at Ellis Park Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays through August 18, as well as Friday through Sunday that next (closing) weekend. This allows him to race at Saratoga Wednesdays through Fridays.
"Coming off the bench, we thought it was good to start at Ellis Park," Muzikar told the site. "We’re not based in New York and not as many Kentucky trainers are shipping there. Ellis’s purses are really good, so we thought we’d give it a try and go in and out of Saratoga."
Gaffalione is originally from Davie, Florida and won the Eclipse Award in 2015. He triumphed at the 2019 Preakness aboard War of Will and has been a popular jockey for the Saratoga crowd, racing often and winning Stakes races including the Grade I Vanderbilt, Fourstardave and Forego in the last two years.
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