Tyler Baze's return to saddle delayed again

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Tyler Baze was forced to give up his Friday mounts at Del Mar after a pre-race test still had traces of a medication he was temporarily prescribed Monday, a situation that forced him to miss his mounts Thursday, too.

“Very frustrated,” his agent, Jack Carava, said of Baze, who was at the track and fully expecting to ride.

Baze was scheduled to return to action Thursday at Del Mar after taking last week off to attend to “personal matters.” Carava on Thursday said Baze had been temporarily prescribed a medication for high blood pressure.

Baze rides under an agreement with the California Horse Racing Board that requires him to be tested regularly, and he in fact passed a test last Friday, a day after he failed to show up for his mounts.

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Baze subsequently took the rest of the week off to attend to matters with his family, which the stewards described as “personal matters.”

On Monday, according to Carava, Baze’s blood pressure spiked to an extent that he was treated.

“It was going through the roof,” Carava said.

Although Baze only took the medication on Monday, it still has not cleared his system.

“They had told us it would be gone within one to three days,” Carava said Friday.

Baze had three mounts scheduled for Thursday, and another five on Friday.

Baze will test again Saturday in an attempt to get back to action.

Baze, 39, has two wins in 67 mounts this summer at Del Mar. He has 2,872 victories during his career, which began more than two decades ago and includes an Eclipse Award as champion apprentice in 2000.