Elliott regains top riding form

CYPRESS, Calif. – Stewart Elliott’s first three-win day in California, and his first anywhere since April 2014 at Keeneland, occurred on Thursday’s quiet opening day of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos.

For Elliott, best known for winning the 2004 Kentucky Derby on Smarty Jones, the hat trick showed how he has adapted to Southern California racing after sitting out 2015. On Thursday, Elliott, 51, rode winners for trainers Mark Rheinford, Bob Baffert, and Mike Puype.

For Baffert, Elliott rode Fact of Life to victory in a maiden special weight race for 2-year-old fillies. The growing association with Baffert has been a summertime highlight for Elliott.

“It’s an exciting barn to be in,” he said.

Elliott frequently rides morning workouts for Baffert. At the Del Mar summer meeting, Elliott rode 17 winners, including four wins from 14 mounts for Baffert. Elliott rode the Baffert-trained Power Jam to a win in the Pirate’s Bounty Stakes last Monday.

On Sunday, Elliott has five mounts on a nine-race program plagued by short fields. He has two mounts each for Baffert and Art Sherman and one for Puype. He said he will ride at Los Alamitos through the current meeting, which ends on Sept. 25, and is hoping for continued success when the Santa Anita autumn meeting opens Sept. 30.

Elliott rode at Del Mar briefly in 2014 before he was sidelined after being kicked in the ribs during a training accident. He rode at Keeneland that fall but spent 2015 focused on a deer lodge property he co-owns in Kentucky.

Elliott resumed riding last winter, returning to Southern California.

“By the time I felt good and fit, it was mid-February or March,” he said. “Things are going good. I had a good meeting at Del Mar, and hopefully it will carry to Santa Anita.”