Sunday, August 15, 2010

Iron Man of American Sports Racing Icon Russell Baze Posts 11,000th Win! Awesome!

at 11:06 PM



Baze rides world-best 11,000th winner

Sunday, August 15, 2010

(08-14) 20:48 PDT -- When Russell Baze became the first jockey in North America to reach 10,000 winners, he addressed the crowd at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 1, 2008.

"It's a milestone, but it's not the final milestone," Baze said. "In about three years I should be standing here again."

But Baze took only 2 1/2 years to reach a world-best 11,000, which he did in Saturday's fourth race at the Sonoma County Fair.

Unlike his 10,000th winner, which came by a short nose, Baze didn't have to work hard for No. 11,000 as well-bred first-time starter Separate Forest won the $29,250 maiden-allowance event for fillies and mares by 11 lengths. Separate Forest is trained by Richard Mandella - like Baze, a member of thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame - who sent the daughter of Forestry from his base at Del Mar.

Baze, 52, was the second jockey in the world to reach 10,000. Brazilian rider Jorge Ricardo made it Jan. 9, 2008, but he has since missed time with injuries and stands at 10,830. Retired Laffit Pincay is second in North America with 9,530 winners.

"When you think about it, 11,000 is a ridiculous number," Baze said after he won the Real Good Deal Stakes with Goggles McCoy on Wednesday at Del Mar for his 10,996th. "I'm just a guy who is lucky enough to be doing something I love; to have enough ability to do it well, and have had enough luck where I've been able to avoid the big injuries and losing a lot of time. It's just all worked out."

Larry Stumes is a freelance writer. E-mail comments to sportinggreen@sfchronicle.com.

MISTER 11K

When New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriquez was approaching his 600th career home run recently, the story captivated the media in all corners of the sporting world. It didn’t seem to matter that A-Rod admitted to steroid use early in his career, making this milestone something of a farce, or that he ranks no higher than seventh on the all-time list of career home runs.

Compare the media coverage of that story to Saturday’s accomplishment by Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze, horse racing’s all-time winningest jockey. Baze guided first-time starter Separate Forest to an 11-length win in the fourth race at Northern California’s Sonoma County Fair, his 11,000th career victory.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association did send out a one-sentence "alert," stating:

"Jockey Russell Baze registered the 11,000th win of his career when he guided Separate Forest to victory in today’s 4th race at Santa Rosa (Sonoma County Fair)." The Paulick Report received no press releases from the Sonoma County Fair (in the last 20 years I don’t recall receiving any press releases from a Northern California racetrack about anything, so that’s no surprise). There were no photos distributed showing Baze in the winner’s circle holding up a big sign with "11,000 wins," and little coverage other than the industry trade publications (and Chuck Dybdal provided excellent coverage in Daily Racing Form).

Perhaps if Baze was riding in New York or Southern California the accomplishment might have received some mainstream media coverage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Baze

 

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