THOROUGHBRED RACING : Baze Follows Cyrus Says to 5,000th Victory

If marquees and klieg lights were Russell Baze’s style, it would have been better for his 5,000th winner to have come today at Del Mar, where as a visiting jockey he’ll ride in a couple of races before a large crowd.

Instead, Baze became the 15th rider to reach 5,000 on Saturday at the Sonoma County Fair at Santa Rosa, where the unassuming 37-year-old jockey has set up shop for a two-week stand. The horse that carried Baze to this lofty plateau, before an estimated 8,000 fans, was the 4-year-old gelding Cyrus Says, a $3,200 claimer.

Baze started the day with 4,999 victories. Early Saturday, as he looked over the seven horses that he would ride at Santa Rosa, he was asked if it was possible that No. 5,000 might wait until today at Del Mar.

“It better not,” Baze said. “There are too many people up here getting ready for me to do it [Saturday].”

On Friday’s card, Baze appeared to be on his way to 5,000 in the last race, but his horse ran out of gas in the stretch. Instead of booing a horse and jockey that had no finishing kick, many in the crowd gave Baze a standing ovation.

There was a larger cheer Saturday after Baze won with Cyrus Says, his second mount of the day. He is the first jockey to reach 5,000 since Eddie Delahoussaye, who joined the club with a victory at Santa Anita in March 1993. Bill Shoemaker, who retired in 1990, leads the list with 8,833, and after him come Laffit Pincay, Angel Cordero, Jorge Velasquez, David Gall, Pat Day, Larry Snyder, Carl Gambardella, Sandy Hawley, Chris McCarron, Johnny Longden, Earlie Fires, Delahoussaye, Jacinto Vasquez and Baze.

“I can’t believe how blessed I’ve been,” Baze said. “I’ve been relatively free of injuries, and to get the kind of stock that I get year in and year out, I’m pretty sure that it’s not all my doing.”

Baze’s first victory came in 1974 in Yakima, Wash., aboard a horse trained by his father. Baze has been a fixture at Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows in the San Francisco area since 1980, and with more than 250 victories this year he’s trying to become the first jockey to win more than 400 races in each of four consecutive years. His combined total for 1992-94 was 1,258.

“When I first started, I was hoping that I might make 4,000 some day,” Baze said. “After I got to 4,000, I didn’t think much about 5,000. Is 5,000 a great accomplishment? There you go, you’ve said it for me. I probably had more than 5,000 before this, if you counted the quarter horses and [Appaloosas] I’ve ridden. I’ve probably won with four quarter horses and about 20 Appys. I even won a race with an Arabian once.”

Because Baze has seldom competed on a major circuit, he has never been a contender for an Eclipse Award. Since the Jockeys’ Guild has conducted the voting for the George Woolf Award at Santa Anita, Baze, who’s not a guild member, hasn’t been on the ballot. But Baze could become the first winner of the new Isaac Murphy Award, which goes to the jockey with the highest winning percentage for the year. With more than 26,000 mounts, Baze’s career average is more than 18%, and this year he’s doing much better than that. Through June, his percentage was .279.

“My weight’s at about 115 pounds, and I’m not thinking about retiring,” Baze said. “I might as well aim for 6,000.”

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Chris McCarron, approaching Bill Shoemaker’s record for stakes victories at Del Mar, took a double jump in that direction Saturday when he won with Jewel Princess in the $104,950 San Clemente Handicap and was Blumin Affair’s partner for a victory in the $156,700 San Diego Handicap.

McCarron has 89 stakes victories at Del Mar, four fewer than Shoemaker amassed from 1950 through 1987.

Blumin Affair, in tight along the rail, beat Rapan Boy by a nose in a field that was reduced to four with two scratches. McCarron became the first jockey to win the San Diego three consecutive years.

Before Saturday, Blumin Affair had earned $626,805 without winning a stake. The 4-year-old colt, a $20,000 yearling purchase, was second in last year’s Arkansas Derby and third in the Kentucky Derby, but soundness has been a problem.

Blumin Affair, earning $87,200, now has four firsts, six seconds and one third in 15 starts. Favored Saturday, he ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41 1/5 and paid $4.40. Trainer Jack Van Berg said that Blumin Affair’s next start will be the $1-million Pacific Classic on Aug. 13.

McCarron’s first stakes victory Saturday was a 10-1 shot. Jewel Princess, fifth in the Honeymoon Handicap at Hollywood Park in her last race, beat the Honeymoon winner, Auriette, by 1 3/4 lengths.

Trained by Wally Dollase, Jewel Princess ran for $20,000 and $30,000 claiming prices in Florida before Richard Stephen bought her for $110,000. She has had three victories in six starts for Dollase and earned $142,640. Dollase said that the $250,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 20 is next.

Horse Racing Notes

Russell Baze, given $1,000 by the Sonoma County Fair for the charity of his choice, designated the money for the Don MacBeth Memorial Fund for disabled jockeys. . . . Leonard Lavin, who owns Concept Win, one of the favorites in today’s Bing Crosby Handicap, stormed the stewards’ stand Saturday to disagree with their disqualification of his Team Leader from first to third place in the fourth race. A new California rule this year prevents horsemen from appealing judgment calls by stewards. . . . Gold Land, who finished half a length behind Concept Win in the Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park last month, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Crosby. . . . Petionville, third in the Swaps at Hollywood, is scheduled to run in the La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 12. . . . Alex Solis had three winners. . . . P.G. Johnson, winless in his last 68 races in New York, saddled Kiri’s Clown, the upset winner of Saturday’s $250,000 Sword Dancer at Saratoga. Kiri’s Clown beat Awad by a neck, with King’s Theatre finishing third. Kiri’s Clown, beaten by more than 23 lengths in his last two starts, was 14-1 at Saratoga and 30-1 at Del Mar. Ridden by Mike Luzzi, he carried 114 pounds, seven less than Awad.