When It Comes to Horse Racing, Jockeys Such as Stevens, Baze and St. Martin Discover That . . . : EVERYTHING IS RELATIVE

Who’s better than his brother Joe? Dom-inic Di-Mag-gio. --Press-box lyric, Fenway Park, circa 1946

In the second race at Santa Anita Jan. 19, Scott Stevens was better than his brother Gary. Scott had Cody’s Chance, a 5-year-old gelding, in front almost all the way for a 1 3/4-length victory. Gary finished third aboard Don’s Co’op.

With Scott on the back of a $37.40 longshot and smiling for the photographer in the winner’s circle, Gary dismounted Don’s Co’op and left the track to a cascade of boos. Although Gary Stevens was riding a 6-year-old who had won just once in more than two years, the public had made him a 7-10 favorite and now the public was piqued.

A little later, while Gary was out trying to win another race, Scott Stevens sat in the jockeys’ room and empathized with his brother, who at 23 is younger by about 2 1/2 years.

“Gary’s under a lot of pressure,” he said. “When you ride as many favorites as he does, there’s a lot of pressure that goes with it. Why, I’ll bet that he’s riding one of the favorites in the race about 90% of the time.”

Scott Stevens knows about going to the paddock and meeting a horse who will give you a good run almost every time. From 1976 through 1981, at a small track in Boise, Ida., not far from his hometown, he was the leading rider. One year, he rode 112 winners in 48 days.

Those were the days when Scott Stevens was getting all the live horses and, for the last three years of that six-year run, his younger brother Gary was settling for what was left.

There were enough horses for both of the Stevens boys to make a living, and their father, who is a trainer, was doing all right, too. Scott was No. 1 and Gary was No. 2.

By 1981, though, Gary took a dislike to the billing. “I was getting sick of being second to Scott, year after year,” he once said.

Gary Stevens moved to Portland Meadows, and then to Longacres near Seattle, where in 1984 he did a Scott Stevens imitation, winning 232 races in 136 days.

Now, Scott Stevens would like to do a Gary Stevens imitation, because last year, riding in Southern California and wherever some good stakes horses would take him, Gary was better than almost anybody. He rode 332 winners and his horses earned $11.3 million in purses as he lost the money title by only $26,000 to New York jockey Jose Santos.

Scott Stevens also left Boise and followed Gary to tracks in the Northwest. “I couldn’t do any more in Boise than what I had done,” Scott said. “I was still winning a lot of races, but there was more money to be made by leaving.”

At Longacres, however, the winners didn’t roll off the assembly line as they had in Idaho. Scott broke his collarbone in a spill. “I was out two months,” he said. “It was hard to get rolling.”

Last fall, Scott came to Fairplex Park for a two-week season of thoroughbred and quarter horse racing in Pomona. He had ridden quarter horses before and said that, combining those with thoroughbreds, he has probably ridden about 1,200 winners.

At Pomona, business was good. Scott even finished as the second-leading rider among the quarter horse jockeys. So now he has decided to stay with the thoroughbreds in California, where he’s hoping some of the success from his ensconced kid brother will overlap.

In the jockeys’ room at Santa Anita, there are some other riders such as Scott Stevens, who ride in the shadows of better known, more established relatives. They compete not only against all of the other riders, but also in the backdrop left to them by kin with the same name and greater accomplishments.

Gary Baze, for example, might be among the leading jockeys during the current season at Santa Anita, but he doesn’t wallow in wins the way his cousin Russell does.

Then there are the Black brothers, Corey and Kenny (see story above) and, of course, the McCarrons, with Chris firmly established as a champion jockey and Gregg doing most of his racing in the East.

And Eric Saint-Martin has the toughest act of all to follow. Even though he’s an ocean and a channel away, Eric is still known as the son of Yves Saint-Martin, a jockey who is to French racing what Maurice Chevalier was to its cinema.

Eric Saint-Martin, only 21, won a small stake on closing day last month at Hollywood Park, but this is what he’s up against: In 1984, his father, just passing through, won a $2-million Breeders’ Cup race at Hollywood, and then last year, in another aside, a $1-million race at Santa Anita.

Yves Saint-Martin rides in France, where he’s been national champion 15 times and a four-time winner of the Arc de Triomphe. After two years in the United States--California and New York--Eric will return in another month to France, where he rode his first winner in November of 1983.

He will be closer to his shadow--as close as you can get--but he has signed a one-year contract with a French trainer and believes that the experience of having ridden against most of the best American riders will help.

“In the beginning over there, it would have been a handicap for me, because I would have always been compared to my father,” Eric said. “But he had absolutely nothing to do with my getting this contract. And now that the door is open, I’ve got to show them what I can do.”

Gary Baze’s shadow is at Bay Meadows, where his cousin Russell is winning a 13th straight title at the Bay Area track, and also breaking his own record for wins in a season. Sons of brothers who train horses, Gary is 31 and Russell is 28. The first year that Gary rode, Russell’s father, Joe, was just finishing his riding career before going into training.

A six-time riding champion at Longacres, Gary Baze is trying for the second time to crack the difficult Southern California circuit and he ranks seventh in the Santa Anita standings with 12 wins.

“I had fair success here last year,” he said. “The purses are so much better here, and it seemed like the time to make the change. The weather had something to do with it, too.”

Gary and Russell Baze could pass for brothers. Russell occasionally comes to Southern California to ride and he was a regular during the Del Mar season last summer.

“The trainers can keep us straight, but sometimes the fans mix us up,” Gary said.

Both Bazes also have brothers who have ridden, and there are so many horsemen in the clan that Bob Schwarzman of the Seattle Times has a family-tree chart of the Bazes pasted next to his seat in the Longacres press box. Toni Stevens, Gary Stevens’ wife, is part of the chart, being Gary Baze’s sister.

“I’ve lost count, but there must be between 15 to 20 Bazes in the Northwest who are in racing,” Gary Baze said. “As for Russell, he deserves the success he’s had. What he’s done at Bay Meadows and Golden Gate says something for his ability. I think Russell and I are alike in temperament. Neither one of us gets too shook up about things.”

There was an exception in late December, though, when Russell Baze, subjected to an especially rough trip aboard a horse named Swink in the $300,000 Bay Meadows Handicap, claimed a foul against a stablemate who won the race, then almost accosted Fernando Toro, the winning jockey, in the winner’s circle. Last Sunday, it was Gary Baze who rode Swink to his fourth-place finish in the San Marcos Handicap at Santa Anita.

Scott Stevens says that, more than anything else, it is his brother Gary’s determination that has rocketed him to the top.

“I think I’m more easygoing,” Scott says. “Gary was the same way at Longacres as he is here. I’m not surprised that he’s done as well as he has.”

Scott Stevens had ridden only 2 winners out of 55 mounts, while Gary, with 35 wins in 209 races, ranked second to Laffit Pincay in the Santa Anita standings.

Scott is not discouraged. He is exercising horses in the mornings for Wayne Lukas, the country’s leading trainer for the last four years, and he remembers the slow start Gary had at Santa Anita in 1980, when he won three races in three months.

“He was homesick then,” Scott said. “He’d call every night and tell us that he ran second again.”

Just as Scott helped Gary get started back in Idaho, the Stevens name is helping Scott at Santa Anita.

“When you haven’t won enough races to get your name in the standings, it’s hard to get mounts,” Scott Stevens said. “I know I’ve gotten on some horses here because I’m Gary’s brother and the trainer will give me a chance.”

Although business is slow for Scott Stevens, it is almost non-existent for Eric Saint-Martin, who has had only one mount at the Santa Anita meeting. Saint-Martin didn’t win any races at the Oak Tree meeting last fall and won six times at Santa Anita last year. He got his winning ride aboard Forlitano in the Seabiscuit Claiming Stakes Dec. 24 at Hollywood Park only after Gary Baze had excused himself to go home for the Christmas holidays.

“It’s been a very good experience here, and I may come back next winter, after the season in France is over,” Saint-Martin said.

It took Saint-Martin some time to get oriented when he arrived in California. He had ridden exclusively on the grass in France and didn’t know dirt courses. Although he had studied English for eight years at home, the varied American accents hadn’t been covered in the classroom.

But after his father--again just dropping in--won a division of the Hollywood Derby with Charming Duke in November of 1985, Eric served as his interpreter for the press. At least young Saint-Martin’s out of the shadow in the bilingual department.