By Nicolle Neulist
Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan will miss the remainder of the Fair Grounds meet, to recover from a broken collarbone.
He suffered the injury on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, after being unseated from Oxford Comma during the stretch run of the Mardi Gras Stakes, the afternoon’s eighth race. Tuesday afternoon, Fair Grounds reported that after experiencing pain in his right shoulder after the race, he was transported to University Medical Center New Orleans, and the injury was diagnosed.
Bridgmohan, 39, originally stated that he would miss the rest of the meet via his Twitter account on Tuesday evening. That news has since been confirmed by an official release made by the track on Wednesday.
“He’ll see the orthopedic doctor tomorrow and he’ll go for surgery on Friday,” Bridgmohan’s agent Anthony Martin said, as quoted in the Fair Grounds release.
“I think four to six weeks is the recovery time so that’s where we’re at right now.”
His mount, Oxford Comma, was the 2-1 favorite in the Mardi Gras Stakes. Settled wide at the middle of the pack, she was injured near the three sixteenths pole, and unseated Bridgmohan as he was pulling her up.
Oxford Comma was vanned off after the race and humanely euthanized. A four-year-old daughter of Majesticperfection who excelled sprinting on both turf and dirt, Oxford Comma won nine times in fourteen career starts for owner Sandra New and trainer Tom Amoss. That includes victories in the 2018 Claiming Crown Distaff Dash at Gulfstream Park and the 2019 Orleans Stakes at Delta Downs. Tuesday’s Mardi Gras Stakes was Shaun Bridgmohan’s first time in the irons with Oxford Comma.
Earlier in Tuesday’s card, Bridgmohan won a pair of allowance races for trainer Brad Cox. In the fifth race, a 1 1/16 mile dirt route, he guided Exclamation Point to a gutsy frontrunning score, digging in to stave off rail-rallying Hawaakom by a head. He returned in the next race, a 1 1/8-mile turf allowance, with Take That for Data. Bridgmohan and Take That for Data tracked the pace and fought past 41-1 longshot Broth on his inside to win by a head.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Shaun Bridgmohan sat sixth in the riding standings at Fair Grounds, with 43 victories and another 46 money finishes in 207 starts, for total earnings of $1,276,475. Those include three stakes wins on December 22, 2018 with Beau Recall in the Blushing K. D. Stakes, Tom’s D’Etat in the Tenacious Stakes, and Gray Attempt in the Sugar Bowl Stakes. He is 20 wins behind the co-leading riders at the meet, Adam Beschizza and James Graham, both of whom have 63 wins so far.
Bridgmohan led the Fair Grounds meet in wins in 2017-2018, with 66 wins in 301 starts, for a total bankroll of $1,942,377. Those were headlined by victories in the Woodchopper Stakes with Mr. Misunderstood, the Louisiana Champions Day Ladies Stakes with Inveniam Viam, and the Louisiana Champions Day Turf Stakes with Extra Credit. Bridgmohan also won the Fair Grounds riding title during the 2009-2010 meet, with 79 victories.
