Black’s Visit Home Short, Unproductive : Horse racing: Jockey who is trying to succeed in Europe rides once on opening day at Del Mar, then heads overseas.

While all the other jockeys were being greeted to opening day at Del Mar’s 53rd summer season on Wednesday, Corey Black was hearing farewells.

His season at Del Mar this year consisted of one race, a forgettable one at that.

Black, a native of Southern California, was back home only for a brief respite. He’ll return to Europe shortly where he will continue free-lancing the continent, picking up mounts wherever he can.

Black was able to take a lone journey around the Del Mar oval only because he had to return here to re-establish his visa.

And while he plans to immediately fly back to he Old World, Black, the leading apprentice at all five Southern California meets in 1986, is not having an easy go of it.

This past spring, Black accepted a one-year contract to ride for the Cricket Head Family in England. But he was fired after only three months.

“I guess they wanted a miracle worker instead of a jockey,” Black said, obviously annoyed with the turn of events. “They said I didn’t adapt fast enough, but that stable isn’t what it used to be. It’s having its problems, and I think they were just looking for a scapegoat.”

After the abrupt dismissal, Black, 23, decided to continue riding on his own in Europe. He has established an end-of-the-year deadline to catch on with another stable.

“I’m trying to make the most of it,” he said. “You know what they say, adversity builds character.”

Black’s character, then, has been undergoing reconstruction since he left the Southern California jockey colony in 1987.

He had written an impressive resume as an apprentice in 1986, when his purses totaled more than $3.7 million. But making the jump from apprentice to journeyman is difficult anywhere, and even more so in Southern California, where the country’s most competitive jockeys congregate.

The transition was made all the more difficult, Black said, because he wasn’t getting enough mounts to maintain his progress.

But Black, then 18, was given a way out.

Andre Fabre, now the top European trainer, offered the youthful jockey a contract to ride in France.

Like his last, Black’s first European tour lasted only a few months. Black was still learning his trade at that point, and Fabre decided he needed more experience.

“I made some mistakes that time,” Black said. “I was young and immature, and (Fabre) just didn’t think I was ready for the job.”

It was back to Southern California for Black, who later tried to find his way in Kentucky and then in New York before returning home one more time.

This past winter at Santa Anita Black had 198 mounts and 12 winners.

“I was doing well,” Black said. “But I decided to go back to Europe. I just decided to take what I thought was a good job (with the Head stables). It just didn’t work out.”

Black’s last race in Europe came June 22 in France when he took Talking Please to a fourth-place finish behind winner River Majesty over a mile, two horses that were entered in the Oceanside Stakes on Del Mar’s opening-day card.

Representatives of the Bruce McNall- and Wayne Gretzky-owned River Majesty placed Black on their horse for the eighth race.

Although Black was familiar with the 3-year-old and with Del Mar, the combination did not click. River Majesty, a 3-1 favorite, faded to fourth over the one-mile turf course.

“I thought he’d run a lot better than that,” Black said. “But he was a just little bit lost with the pace.”

As quickly as Black was out of the race, he was out of the jockeys’ room, this time racing past the other jockeys and out the door.

“Good luck, Corey,” they shouted as Black headed to his car. “Good luck.”