Baze's plans for April remain unclear

ARCADIA, Calif. – In the next 10 days jockey Tyler Baze will be on the go, riding at tracks in Arkansas, New Mexico, and California. Baze has yet to form a plan for the remainder of April.

This week, Baze was booked on mounts at Oaklawn Park on Friday and Saturday, and at Sunland Park on Sunday. Next week, Baze will be at his California base to ride at Santa Anita. The track is scheduled to reopen on Friday following an investigation into a series of equine fatalities earlier this year. Santa Anita has not raced since March 3.

Baze said that if Santa Anita returns to a normal schedule in the next week, he may stay close to home in April. Or he could return to Oaklawn for the duration of that meeting, which ends May 4.

“I want to see what doors open up,” he said by phone from Arkansas. “I’m taking it day by day. Now is the time to try different things.”

At Santa Anita next week Baze is booked to ride Epical in Friday’s Grade 2 San Luis Rey Stakes and Selcourt in Saturday’s Grade 1 Beholder Mile.

From March 9 through Thursday, Baze rode at Fair Grounds, Golden Gate Fields, and Oaklawn Park, where he had two wins.

Baze, 36, has ridden primarily in California since his career began in 1999. This year at Santa Anita, Baze has won 20 races and is ranked seventh in the jockey standings.