Russell Baze to Retire

Russell Baze, North America's all-time winningest jockey with 12,842 victories, is on the cusp of formally announcing his retirement from riding, Golden Gate Fields Racetrack announced Monday.

According to the Paulick Report, which first broke the story with confirmation quotes from Baze's longtime agent, Ray Harris, the 57-year-old jockey dead-heated to a second-place finish in the tenth race of Sunday's closing-day Golden Gate Fields card and then told his agent, “That's it. I'm going to retire.” That story alluded to a Tuesday teleconference at which Baze would speak of his decision.

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame (HOF), to which Baze was elected in 1999, posted a congratulatory confirmation of his retirement on Twitter, and Golden Gate Fields soon made a similar posting. TDN attempted to contact Baze and his agent directly but could not get through to either before deadline for this story.

Baze's presumptive retirement leaves a chasm in the all-time North American wins list for jockeys. The second-through seventh winningest riders (Laffit Pincay, Bill Shoemaker, Pat Day, David Gall, Chris McCarron and Angel Cordero, Jr.) have all long since retired. Edgar Prado, ranked eighth all-time, would become the continent's winningest active rider with 6,899 victories. According to the Paulick Report, Baze's only global rival in career wins is 55-year-old Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo, who is believed to be within 100 wins of Baze and still active.

“I was surprised but I was happy,” continued Harris, who has been Baze's agent since 1979. “He's my friend and I wanted him to be sound for his retirement. His family wanted him to retire after he got hurt the last time. He won the last stake [Saturday's Albany S. at Golden Gate] and he was leading rider, which is what he wanted. Most importantly, he retired sound.”

According to his Hall of Fame bio, Baze was born on Aug. 7, 1958, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. With a father, Joe Baze, who was a leading rider in Northern California, Russell began learning his craft at a young age. In 1974, at the age of 16, he rode his first winner at long-gone Yakima Meadows in Washington state.

Riding primarily at Golden Gate, the now-defunct Bay Meadows, and on the Northern California fairs circuit, Baze's hallmarks were consistency and durability, and he largely elected to remain a dominant rider on a mid-sized circuit rather than uprooting his family to chase more lucrative circuit-to-circuit national riding opportunities.

“All of us at The Stronach Group would like to congratulate Russell Baze on his stellar career and offer our best wishes as he begins his retirement,” said Joe Morris, Senior Vice President of West Coast Operations at the Stronach Group. “For decades, Russell dominated the jockey standings at Golden Gate Fields and other Northern California tracks.”

He led all North American jockeys in annual races won 13 times (1992-1996, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007-09 and 2012-13). In 1994, he was voted a Special Eclipse Award for having won 400 races in four consecutive years. On Dec. 1, 2006, Baze became the leading rider of all-time races won when he surpassed Laffit Pincay's record of 9,530. In 2012, he was enshrined in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Baze's Grade I winners were aboard Smiling Tiger (Ancient Title H., 2010), Lost in the Fog (King's Bishop S., 2005), Hawkster (Oak Tree Inv. H., 1989), Both Ends Burning (Oak Tree Inv. H., 1984), and Devil's Orchid (Santa Monica H., 1991).

Multiple-win cards were such a common occurrence for Baze that they are difficult to enumerate. Highlights include winning with seven of nine mounts at Golden Gate on April 16, 1992, tying the U.S. record for consecutive wins by a jockey with nine straight races over two days (Aug. 17-18, 2006) during the San Mateo County Fair meet at Bay Meadows, and a 6-for-7 card at Golden Gate on Jan. 31, 2014.

In addition to his father, Baze's extended family includes other current and former jockeys: Second cousin Tyler Baze still competes in Southern California, and brother Dale Baze, cousins Gary Baze and Michael B. Baze, and second cousin Michael C. Baze also rode.