Saez happy to be back riding after coronavirus scare

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was only a maiden $20,000 claiming race, but Luis Saez was excited to climb aboard the back of 20-1 shot Vitanza for Friday’s first race at Saratoga.

“It was exciting,” said Saez, who finished fourth on the 4-year-old filly. “I feel like when I was an apprentice and I rode my first race.”

Saez would get his first winner of the meet in the eighth race Friday when he guided Cerretalto ($11.20) to victory in an allowance race for James Bond.

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Friday was Saez’s first day riding since July 10, when he learned that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He was abruptly removed from the remainder of his mounts that day at Keeneland and started a 14-day quarantine period that officially ended Friday. Saez took two COVID tests and both were negative, he said.

Saez, like several of his colleagues who have been diagnosed with coronavirus, said he never felt sick. He stayed at his Long Island home for the bulk of his quarantine period and said he didn’t watch much television.

“I don’t watch too much news because they make you think a lot” about coronavirus, he said. “I tried to stay away from all that stuff.”

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Saez, who ranks second in the nation in wins this year with 151 and fifth in purse earnings with $6,050,868, was scheduled to ride Maximum Security this Saturday in the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar, but will stay at Saratoga instead. Due to restrictions, he would not be permitted to return to Saratoga the remainder of the meet were he to ride at Del Mar.

“It’s a little sad because I’ve been riding him all the time, but we understand now, we’ve been through all this,” Saez said.

Saez will ride Uncle Chuck for Bob Baffert in the $1 million Runhappy Travers on Aug. 8.