Stevens to ride the Oaklawn meeting

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens will ride at Oaklawn Park in 2017.

Stevens said on Sunday that he plans to ride the Del Mar autumn meeting that begins on Friday and will relocate to Oaklawn Park before the track starts its three-month meeting on Jan. 13.

Stevens said he plans to return to California for major stakes next year, but said day-to-day opportunities in California have left him discouraged.

“I’m going to Oaklawn,” he said. "It's more money, more opportunities and more horses. I don’t have a lot of business.”

Stevens, 53, has won 5,079 races in the United States and Canada and has ridden extensively internationally – including in Dubai, England, and Hong Kong – in a career that began in 1979. At the 21-day autumn meeting at Santa Anita that ended on Sunday, Stevens had five wins from 41 mounts.

“It’s depressing in mid-week when you don’t see your name on the overnight,” he said.

At the Santa Anita meeting, the highlight for Stevens was a win in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Beholder last Friday. Stevens has rated Beholder as one of the finest horses he has ridden. Last Saturday, Stevens was second in the BC Turf Sprint on the fast-closing Om, who was beaten a nose, and fifth in the BC Turf on Ashleyluvssugar, among other mounts. Those are two runners he will continue to ride, he said.

“I don’t want to lose them,” Stevens said.

Stevens returned to riding in 2013 after an absence of more than seven years caused largely by knee issues. When he resumed riding, Stevens said he wanted to be selective about the mounts he chose. Sunday, Stevens said he would like to be more active.

“We’ll see how it goes, he said. “I’m not opposed to riding cheaper horses for the right kind of people.”