Stevens won't be riding, but he'll be working at Santa Anita Park

Thomas Wolfe wrote the novel “You Can’t Go Home Again,” but Aaron Gryder, erudite though he may be, dismisses the gist of that title, because he is going home again.

The 48-year-old jockey, born in West Covina, several furlongs from Santa Anita, returns to Santa Anita Park to ride regularly at the Winter Meet that starts Wednesday, and he’ll have a new agent: recently retired Hall of Fame great Gary Stevens.

“I’d been riding up North, went East for a few weeks and rode in the Breeders’ Cup, but thought it was a good time to come back,” said Gryder, who began his career in 1986 south of the border at Caliente. “I never ran from a challenge. This is where I grew up loving racing and I want to be back here.

 “I’ve done my tours, I feel great right now, and I wanted to come back and enjoy myself. It’s been good. The first few weeks here, I didn’t get an agent. I was working horses for some former clients, got lucky and won a couple races at Del Mar and a few at Los Alamitos.

“I had a good time and it was nice. Last week, Gary Stevens and I hooked up. We’re a team now and everything happens for a reason. I’m just having a lot of fun working horses for a lot of the right people and, if given the opportunities, I’ll have to make the most of them.

“I’m really looking forward to being back here.”

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