Body sore from spill, Baze off until Santa Anita
DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze, who escaped serious injury in a seven-horse spill at Del Mar on Aug. 22, does not plan to resume riding until the start of the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Oct. 1.
“I want to take it easy for a couple of weeks,” Baze said on Sunday. “I’ll be back at Santa Anita. I want to take care of my body.”
Baze was briefly hospitalized after the spill and released that evening. He has not ridden since, taking off the four-day racing week that ended on Sunday. He cited body soreness for the absence.
In the spill, Baze was aboard Renegade Princess, who was brought down after Sassy Chasey clipped heels with a rival nearing the turn of a main-track sprint for maiden claimers.
“I got hit by a train,” Baze said.
Baze will miss the final days of the Del Mar meeting, which ends on Monday, and the three-week Los Alamitos meeting, which runs Sept. 10-26.
More immediately, Baze will miss a mount on the two-time stakes winner At the Spa in Sunday’s Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante for 2-year-old fillies. He is hopeful she can progress to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Nov. 5.
Umberto Rispoli will ride At the Spa in the $300,000 Debutante.
This year, Baze has won 48 races, including six races at the Del Mar meeting.
There are eight stakes from Friday through Monday in the final days of the Del Mar meeting.
There are two Grade 2 turf races at 1 1/8 miles on Saturday – the $300,000 Del Mar Derby and the $200,000 John Mabee Stakes for fillies and mares.
Of the two, the Del Mar Derby is likely to have a larger field. The candidates include Crew Dragon, Flashiest, Hudson Ridge, Jimmy Blue Jeans, Lincoln Hawk, No Foolery Here, None Above the Law, Sword Zorro, and Zoffarelli.
The probable starters for the Mabee Stakes are Bodhicitta, Dogtag, Going to Vegas, Maxim Rate and Tapwater.