Baffert’s Offer Keeps Stevens in California

A new agreement with trainer Bob Baffert will keep jockey Gary Stevens from heading east next month.

Originally, Stevens was going to leave California sometime in July and ride the Saratoga meeting, then go on to ride at Belmont Park and Churchill Downs before the Breeders’ Cup in Louisville on Nov. 7. He wasn’t going to ride locally again until the winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita begins on Dec. 26.

Now, Stevens, 35, will ride through the remainder of the Hollywood Park season, which concludes on July 20, and go on to Del Mar because he will have first call for the powerful Baffert stable.

“We were coming back after the Preakness and I asked Gary why he wanted to go to New York,” Baffert said. “I’ve got a lot of good horses now and some pretty potent 2-year-olds [some 45 in all], so why should he go there? Gary’s the premier rider in the nation and California needs Gary Stevens. We get along great and we have a really good rapport.

“Starting with the next [condition] book [on July 1], Gary has first choice of all my horses. David [Flores] will still ride a lot of horses for me and Kent [Desormeaux] will still ride some.”

While on the phone at his Santa Anita stable office, Baffert watched the last two Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners return home. Silver Charm, who won the first two legs of the Triple Crown last year and Real Quiet, who won both races last month, returned from Churchill Downs on Sunday without incident.

“They both look good,” Baffert said. “Silver Charm looks a lot fitter. That last race [the Stephen Foster Handicap on June 13] was just a workout to him.”

Beaten by Awesome Again in the Foster while conceding him 14 pounds, Silver Charm will work Tuesday morning at Santa Anita and is scheduled to take on Gentlemen and Skip Away in the $1-million Hollywood Gold Cup on Sunday.

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Gentlemen, the defending champion in the Gold Cup, had his final major drill for Sunday’s Grade I, breezing six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 under jockey Corey Nakatani. If Silver Charm runs in the Gold Cup, Stevens will ride him and Nakatani will be on Gentlemen.

Meanwhile, at Belmont Park, trainer Sonny Hine reported Skip Away’s front legs looked better Sunday morning. The 5-year-old Skip Trial horse, who has won his last six starts, had some swelling in those legs after getting loose on the track Friday.

“[The swelling] is gone now,” Hine said. “He looks like he’s pretty darn good. If he looks as good [this morning] as he did today, we’ll take him and jog him a mile to a mile and a half. If he has no filling at that time, we’ll schedule a work for him Tuesday morning.

“I’ll probably tell [jockey] Jerry [Bailey] to go in about a minute, which is more of an open gallop for Skip Away. Chances are he’ll work faster. We haven’t canceled our plane tickets for California. We’re definitely leaning more to going than not. We’re making every effort to go. We really want to get there.”

Horse Racing Notes

Kent Desormeaux became only the second jockey in history to complete a Kentucky Derby-Queen’s Plate double when guiding 7-2 shot Archers Bay to an easy victory over favored Brite Adam in the $500,000 Queen’s Plate at Woodbine. Bill Hartack also won both races in 1964. . . . Heavily favored Old Trieste won the first stakes of his career, wiring three other 3-year-olds in the $101,822 Affirmed Handicap. He completed the 1 1/16 miles in a stakes record 1:41 4/5 under jockey Chris McCarron. Old Trieste is owned by Gary Biszantz’s Cobra Farm, Inc. and trained by Mike Puype.