Jockey Tyler Baze on Verge of Milestones
Tyler Baze could become a father at any time. The next victory for the 31-year-old jockey –which could come aboard one of his six rides Thursday – will be No. 2,000 of his career.
Exciting prospects, for sure. But as he made his rounds riding morning workouts Thursday, Baze viewed them with the cool demeanor jockeys maintain when they’re on a closer and a speed duel is developing up front in a race.
“I could get the call any second now,” Baze said of his impending parenthood. His wife Christina is due to deliver a girl. “It’s our first child, so if I get the call, I’ll be taking off. But hopefully the baby will wait until after Sunday so we can get through the weekend.”
The Baze family is to thoroughbred race riding what the Wallenda family is to high-wire walking. Tyler comes from a line of Bazes that includes his father Earl and mother, the former Cammie Hunt, uncle Gary, second-cousin Russell. He was also a cousin to the late Michael Baze.
Victory No. 2,000 will move Tyler to within just more than 10,000 of cousin Russell, racing’s all-time wins leader. He smiles at the idea of pursuing such a figure, then puts things in perspective.
“I just thank God every day I walk away from here safe,” he said. “It’s dangerous work. For all of us jocks, every win’s a blessing and it’s a blessing every time we leave here. My wife’s thankful I come home in one piece.”
Baze won the Eclipse Award as the top apprentice in North America in 2000 and was the leading apprentice at Del Mar and every other Southern California meeting that year. He had banner years in 2004 and 2008 but battled substance abuse problems starting in 2010-11 and returned to riding full time on January 1 this year.
“I’ve had a rough go of it,” Baze said. “It will be nice to get it under my belt and join the 2,000 club and start towards joining the 3,000 club. It’s been a lot of work. It hasn’t been easy.”
Equibase statistics through Wednesday show Baze with 92 wins from 654 starts in 2014 with 80 seconds and 87 third-place finishes and purse earnings of $4,984,204. He’s ranked No. 17 of the nearly 1,500 riders for whom statistics are kept. He recently won the Gold Cup at Santa Anita aboard Majestic Harbor, his mount for the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic on August 24, and last Sunday took the Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes aboard Big Macher. Through 10 racing days, Baze is tied with Kent Desormeaux atop the meet riding standings. They both have 10 wins.
His mounts on Thursday are: Vord Queen (2nd, 6-1), The Cleaners (3rd, 3-1), Silver Torch (5th, 12-1), Rockin Girl (6th, 12-1), Upbeat Mood (7th, 5-2) and Theatrical Cast (8th, 7-2).
“I remember the year I won the Eclipse Award was 2000. So the number 2,000 will mean something to me but other than that it’s just a number,” Baze said.