Jockey John Velazquez was released yesterday from the University of Kentucky Medical Center after fracturing his right shoulder blade in an ugly spill Thursday at Keeneland that cost the life of his mount, Up An Octave, after they won the Forerunner Stakes on turf.

Velazquez is resting at his apartment in Lexington, Ky., awaiting his doctor’s permission to fly home to New York.

The injury almost certainly will keep Velazquez, the nation’s Eclipse Award-winning rider the past two years, out of the Kentucky Derby two weeks from today, in which he would have ridden Bluegrass Cat for his main client, Todd Pletcher, who also trained Up An Octave.

But according to Velazquez’s agent, Angel Cordero Jr., Velazquez wasn’t hurt nearly as bad as an Internet report yesterday that said he’d be out of action for three to five months after also suffering a bruised sternum, two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. That information was attributed to one of Pletcher’s assistants.

“He has no punctured lung,” said Cordero, who was incredulous when asked about the other injuries. “He has a small crack in his shoulder blade. There’s a lot of soreness and bruising, but that’s a good hospital and they’re not going to let him go (after an overnight stay) if they think something is wrong.”

As for riding in the Derby, Cordero said, “It doesn’t look good, but we don’t know for sure. It’s too soon after the injury. It’s too early to say how long he’s going to be out, but somebody told me a bone like that doesn’t take much healing. When he’s comfortable [to ride again], he’ll tell me. I don’t think it’s going to be a long time.”

In Velazquez’s absence, Ramon Dominguez is likely to pick up the mount on Bluegrass Cat.

ed.fountaine@nypost.com