Sidelined By Injury, Dylan Davis To Make Riding Return Saturday

[Wandering Eyes]

Over three months after a spill at Aqueduct hospitalized him with serious injuries, jockey Dylan Davis will return to the races Saturday with a pair of mounts at Gulfstream Park, including one in the GIII Honey Fox Stakes for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.

That Nov. 14 incident, in which Davis's mount Tarpaulin (Leofric) fell over a stricken horse in front of them, resulted in a laundry list of ailments in what Davis referred to as the most serious fall of his career.

“Three months [off], 11 broken bones, a collapsed lung, a punctured lung, and I lost a kidney,” Davis said. “It was tough the first month. But once I was able to get more mobile and get going, I was able to get my mind right.”

Davis's recovery involved intense physical therapy to build back up the strength he'd lost from the time off.

“I was able to work with weights, strength training and resistance bands to get my body back in the right spot,” he said. I wanted to really make sure that I was 100% going back out there, in respect for my owners and trainers and all the hard work they put into their horses.”

Davis is a long-time successful NYRA-based rider, having begun on the circuit in 2012 and capturing two rider's titles along the way in 2022 and 2024 during Aqueduct's winter meet. And while he meant to return to the Big A for his comeback, opportunity arose first in South Florida where he rode his first Championship meet just last season.

“I was actually just planning on coming to breeze horses down here because the weather was nice, but I got offered some mounts for [this] weekend,” Davis said. “My agent [Mike Migliore] and I talked and we're interested in finishing this meet up next month. Then I think we'll go back to New York in April.”

It will be a quick turnaround for Davis who admitted that he's only been back working horses for a week.

“I haven't been on a horse in three months! So I was a little nervous before,” he said. “But once I got legged up, I was really happy. I was so happy to be back on and it just felt really comfortable. Once I got that first ride out of the way, it was like I hadn't missed a beat.”

His fall and subsequent injuries have led Davis to re-evaluate how he approaches his routine as he faces a comeback, putting more emphasis on getting his body ready ahead of time.

“I'll be changing some things,” he said. “You can get a little comfortable about what you're doing. I'll be getting in more strength training for myself and doing a couple more added things to my routine than what I was doing before. I always want to try and push myself a little more.”

Davis kicks his weekend off Saturday with just a pair of rides but has a busier day Sunday, getting the leg up on no fewer than five mounts.

“I've put a lot of cardio in my workout before I [got here],” he said. “I think I'll be alright there [stamina-wise]. My agent's been doing it the right way. He's putting me on a few mounts, nothing crazy the first week or two. I'm just gradually getting myself back to where I was to make sure that everything goes well.”

Davis confirmed that he'll spend the month of March finishing up Gulfstream's Championship meet which concludes March 29 before returning to New York for the Aqueduct Spring meet Apr. 2.

“Our base will be [Florida] for March and obviously we may ship out of there if we get to,” he said. “There's some stakes and Derby preps that we're interested in. But otherwise, base is Gulfstream and then we'll work from there.”

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