THE PLAYER, the 5-year-old horse who suffered fractured sesamoids Saturday in the New Orleans Handicap at Fair Grounds, underwent successful surgery Monday at the Louisiana State University Equine Medical Facility in Baton Rouge, La., although “he still has a long way to go,” trainer Buff Bradley said via text message late Monday night.

Bradley said the complex surgical procedure led by Dr. Charles McCauley took more than seven hours. A plate and 16 screws were inserted in the affected foreleg to stabilize it.

“So far it all looks good,” said Bradley. “He just got back to his stall. I was happy to see him walk to his stall.”

A Facebook page dedicated to The Player said in part that the horse was “bearing weight on all four legs … now we have to hope for no infections and that no laminitis sets in.”

The Player went wrong leaving the final turn of the 1 1/8-mile New Orleans Handicap and was pulled up by jockey Calvin Borel. Bred in Kentucky by Bradley and his late father, Fred, in partnership with Carl Durst, The Player won five of 14 career starts and $452,485 for Bradley and Durst. The biggest wins for the chestnut son of Street Hero came in the Grade 2 Fayette at Keeneland in October and the Grade 3 Mineshaft at Fair Grounds in February.