Baze's retirement gives young guns more ammunition

The sudden and surprising retirement of Russell Baze has shaken up the jockey colony in Northern California.

Top young riders who could benefit from Baze’s retirement include Juan Hernandez, second to Baze at the last Golden Gate Fields meet; Ricardo Gonzalez, who won the Oak Tree Handicap aboard Bronze Star for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer last Saturday; and 2011 Eclipse Award-winning apprentice Kyle Frey.

“Three hundred wins a year have opened up,” said Ron Freitas, the agent for Gonzalez and Julien Couton. “Jockeys will be riding horses back that were second or third the last time and aren’t given to Russell. We all have to step up our games. As agents, we have to be right a lot more because you’ll be offered better horses.”

Frey, whose grandfather Paul and father, Jay, served stints as Baze’s valet, might have been the first person at the track to sense something was going on with Baze.

“I was totally surprised,” said Frey, “but that last week I saw Russell’s family there every day, and I asked Russell, ‘Are you nearing a milestone? Because your family’s always here.’ ”

Frey recalled a conversation late in the Golden Gate Fields meeting with Baze’s agent, Ray Harris, who didn’t learn that Baze was retiring until after his final ride.

“Ray came over and told me I had a really good shot to be a leading rider,” said Frey. “He said, ‘You’re doing really good, and you’ve got a good agent.’ It really caught me off guard.”

Frey’s agent, Dennis Patterson, has had a number of riders who finished second in the standings to Baze.

“I’ll probably miss competing with the guy, obviously, but it doesn’t really change the dynamics,” said Patterson. “It’s almost like a chess game. We’re still going after the same horses.”

Frey said: “I always talked to him and would always bounce ideas off him. I hate to lose that role model.”

Frey said Baze rode hard all the time, whether it was for first place or for a minor share of the purse.

“Russell and I used to have some real battles just to finish fourth,” Frey said with a laugh.

Gonzalez, who will turn 21 on July 10, also was close to Baze. Since Gonzalez rode a number of horses for Hollendorfer, for whom Baze won 2,722 races, the two would share insights about the Hollendorfer horses.

“He’s one of those guys, he’ll tell you what you did wrong,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for him.”

Hernandez finished second to Baze with 111 winners at the recently concluded Golden Gate Fields meet, won the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meet last year, and is leading Frey, 12-11, going into the final four days of this summer’s Pleasanton meet.

Hernandez has recently been riding more horses for Hollendorfer, who is looking to find a No. 1 rider with Baze gone.

“I was working some already for him, and now he’s given me more horses to ride,” said Hernandez, whose agent is Ramon Silva.