Ramsammy faces knife for cracked cheek

TORONTO: Top Trinidad and Tobago jockey Emile Ramsammy will have surgery next Wednesday for the fractured cheek bone he suffered last weekend in a fall at the Woodbine racetrack. Ramsammy received the injury when he fell from the 3-5 favourite Stormthebarricade in Saturday’s Victoria Stakes, after being impeded midway the five-furlong sprint. His agent Neil Wilson said the injury is not serious and Ramsammy is likely to return to race-riding soon after the operation. “It’s a cosmetic type operation for the cracked cheek bone and as soon as he feels ready, he will be back riding again,” Wilson told CMC Sport yesterday morning. The injury rules the 40-year-old former champion of Canada out of Sunday’s big Queen’s Plate Stakes, worth CAN$1 million. “He is pretty disappointed he will miss the Queen’s Plate but he’ll be back at it,” Wilson said. Ramsammy is currently third in the Woodbine standings with 35 wins, trailing leader Todd Kabel (49) and Barbadian Patrick Husbands (44). He is one of the most successful Caribbean riders ever, boasting Sovereign Awards as Canada’s “Jockey of the Year” in 1996 and 1997.