No Turns for Stevens This Time : Los Alamitos: The year’s top thoroughbred jockey will ride lightly regarded Raised Toperfection in quarter horse race.

Gary Stevens, the year’s leading thoroughbred jockey with purses of $5.7 million, will ride a quarter horse, Raised Toperfection, tonight in the $233,000 Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos.

Stevens, 27, got his start in racing by riding quarter horses in his native Idaho, but it has been six years since his last appearance on a Los Alamitos quarter horse program, when he rode Bunny Bidajett to a third-place finish in the Thoroughbred Jockey Invitational.

Trainer Bob Baffert, who has doubled as a quarter horse and thoroughbred trainer during the past year, asked Stevens to ride Raised Toperfection in the 350-yard race.

“Gary had always told me that if I ever needed a rider in one of the big races at Los Alamitos, he’d love to come over and ride,” Baffert said Friday. “He told me he’d always wanted to win a big quarter horse race. I told him he’ll have his work cut out for him winning this race, but he said no problem.”

Raised Toperfection will be a longshot. The favorites in the Grade I event figure to be Bay Meadows Futurity winner Takin On the Cash, Leo Handicap winner Miss Strikin Jet and fastest Kindergarten qualifier Jacks Special Gem.

The winner of the Kindergarten will earn $84,740 for about 18 seconds’ work.

The complete Kindergarten field with jockeys, from the inside post: Splitsville, Lute Proctor; Ramtac, Roman Figueroa; Femmes Flam, Steve Treasure; Cash N Cara, Alvin Brosette; Resolutions, Kip Didericksen; Ms Bush Whacker, John Creager; Takin On the Cash, Danny Cardoza; Miss Strikin Jet, Bruce Pilkenton; Jacks Special Gem, Eddie Garcia, and Raised Toperfection, Gary Stevens.

The Kindergarten will be the second ride of the night for Stevens. Baffert has also named him on Kite in the Sky, a $5,000 claimer, in the seventh race.

“If he wants to ride in a $200,000 race (the Kindergarten), he has to ride the claimer; that’s the price he has to pay,” Baffert joked.

The Kindergarten will be the ninth race on the 12-race program. First post is 7:25 p.m.