Gary Stevens to race in Breeders’ Cup after knee-replacement surgery

Gary Stevens plans to race in the Breeders’ Cup next week in the Hall of Fame jockey’s first race since having knee-replacement surgery on his right knee three months ago.

Stevens last year rode Mucho Macho Man to victory in the $5-million Breeders’ Cup Classic, and he won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff race on Beholder. Neither horse is in this year’s Breeders’ Cup races.

This year Stevens, 51, will ride Sivoliere in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf race on Oct. 31 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia.

Sivoliere is trained by Chad Brown, and Stevens rode his last race for Brown in July before the surgery.

“I always hoped I would be able to ride in the Breeders’ Cup this year, but I knew that I wasn’t going to do it unless I was 110%,” Stevens said in a statement Thursday. “I’m so grateful to have owners and trainers that believe in me.

“Nothing can top the Breeders’ Cup I had last year,” Stevens said. “But being able to go out there and ride at the highest level for great people only three months after having a new knee put in, well, it’s right up there.”

Stevens has 4,988 career victories, according to the research firm Equibase. When he’s not riding, he is a horse-racing analyst for television. He also appeared in the 2003 movie “Seabiscuit,” playing another Hall of Fame jockey, George Woolf.

The Breeders’ Cup series of races at Santa Anita covers two days, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.