Baird makes good showing in return to saddle

The 52-year-old jockey E.T. Baird rode his first race since late last summer when he guided Brittney On Blades to a second-place finish in Sunday’s seventh race at Arlington.

Baird for decades was one of the finest gate and front-end jockeys in the Midwest, and he put Brittney On Blades right on the lead.

“It felt really good to be back,” Baird said. “I’ve been getting fit working on my house since March – chain sawing down trees, cutting my lawn manually, swinging 20- or 30-pound sledgehammers. My whole career used to be going straight from the couch to riding. This is the first time I ever worked out.”

Baird made a truncated comeback last summer but said his head’s in a better place now.

“I had lost focus on a lot of things,” he said.

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