UPDATE FLAVIEN PRAT

JOCKEY PRAT REMAINS HOSPITALIZED AFTER THURSDAY SPILL

      Jockey Flavien Prat remains hospitalized after suffering five vertebrae fractures and a punctured lung in a spill in Thursday’s sixth race.

A native of Melun, France, Prat, a rising star in Southern California, was injured when Discreetlyhumor, a 2-year-old first time starter trained by Mark Glatt, tripped and fell approaching the turn, Lucky Snow, another horse trained by Glatt and ridden by Santiago Gonzalez, was unable to avoid the fallen horse and rider and also went down.

Gonzalez, 32, escaped serious injury, but will not ride the rest of the week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) due to reported body soreness.

Derek Lawson, Prat’s agent, said Friday morning the 23-year-old jockey is in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

“He has movement in all of his extremities,’’ Lawson said. “He was given a chest tube to reinflate his lung. He was heavily sedated and rested comfortably last night. He’s scheduled to have an MRI done today.

No surgery will be required – which was an earlier concern – but Prat will be wearing a body brace for the next three months. It is possible he could be released from the hospital either Sunday or Monday.

Prat, who won four races Sept. 13 at Los Alamitos , has 83 victories from 576 mounts this year and earnings of $5,177,995.

He finished second behind Rafael Bejarano in the jockey standings at the recently-concluded Del Mar meet after finishing fifth at the Santa Anita spring season which concluded in late June.