Louisiana native, Robby Albarado, who suffered a fractured wrist in a June 23 spill at Churchill Downs, will resume riding races Aug. 31 on the opening-day card of the Runhappy Meet at Kentucky Downs. Albarado has the mount on the Wayne Catalano-trained Well Spent in the $500,000 Exacta Systems Juvenile Fillies. The jockey will ride Sunday at Ellis Park.

Albarado,  who was the regular rider of 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft  and 2007-08 Horse of the Year Curlin said, “I’ll be ready this weekend, but I want to make sure I’m really ready for when Churchill Downs starts. The wrist is good. This is the longest I’ve ever been out with an injury; it’s been 10 weeks. And it wasn’t the fracture. I had a fracture, but it healed right up after four weeks. It’s the ligaments in your hand. But for the most part, it feels good.

“I got on a horse at my farm two weeks ago, galloped him a couple of days in a row and said, ‘Man, I’m ready to go to the track and work horses.’ And it felt good. That’s all you need: to get on horses to get ready. It doesn’t matter what you do at the gym or exercise therapy. There’s nothing better than getting on horses.”

Albarado has won 5,185 races and $218 million in purses in a career that began in 1990.