Gryder giving New York another go

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When jockey Aaron Gryder came to the East Coast at the beginning of the fall, it wasn’t with the intent of returning to ride on the New York Racing Association circuit, where he won four meet titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Gryder’s main purpose was to ride at Parx, where a few California-based owners had sent horses for the super-inflated purses Parx was offering during its fall meet. On dark days, however, Gryder would drive to New York, talk with some trainers, and get on a few horses in the morning.

Sensing there was interest in his services, Gryder has returned to ride at Aqueduct’s fall and winter meets to see if he can rekindle some of the success he had here 15 years ago.

“I always had fun here in the wintertime,” Gryder, 45, said Friday morning between sets. “People used to tell me when I was doing well here in the wintertime, ‘You should go to Florida; it is so much warmer.’ I told them, ‘I’ve been cold in a lot of warm places.’ ”

Gryder spent the better part of the last decade in Southern California. He got the opportunity to ride some nice horses, including Well Armed, whom he guided to victory in the 2009 Dubai World Cup, and Calidoscopio, whom Gryder rode to victory in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Marathon and in the 2013 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park.

“I had some good horses,” said Gryder, who has won 3,672 races. “I didn’t have the daily business I wanted to.”

At Parx, Gryder won four races from 32 mounts. The purses were slashed when a case of the equine herpesvirus was detected on the backstretch, preventing horses from shipping into that track.

From 1998 to 2001, Gryder won three consecutive Aqueduct inner-track riding titles and took the 2001 Aqueduct spring-meet title. He won three riding titles at Arlington Park and is a two-time leading rider at Churchill Downs.

In New York, Gryder will be represented by agent Matt Muzikar, who also represents two-time Eclipse Award winner Javier Castellano.

“It added to it when I was able to work with Matt Muzikar, who’s got great connections, so, yeah, I’m really excited about it,” Gryder said.

Muzikar is friendly with leading trainer Chad Brown, who has already put Gryder on two winners – Ava’s Kitten in last weekend’s Chelsey Flower Stakes and Building Permit in Thursday’s opener – and who leaves a large supply of horses here in the winter.

“I always enjoyed looking at the Racing Form and seeing I had chances,” Gryder said. “It’s exciting coming back.”