Stevens Has Smooth Ride on First Day of Comeback

It’s not true that Gary Stevens only rides on opening days.

But that was one of the jokes going around at Santa Anita on Wednesday, when the Hall of Fame jockey rode four horses in his first competitive appearance since Dec. 26, which was opening day for the main meet at the Arcadia track. Stevens, unable to endure any more pain from his two arthritic knees, had quit on the spot then, all the while conceding to himself that a physical improvement could bring him back to the saddle.

So that day arrived Wednesday, as the Oak Tree Racing Assn. launched its season on a gray afternoon, and the question following Stevens around all day was about how his knees were feeling.

“Great,” Stevens said. “Sure a lot better than on Dec. 26.”

It was just after the second race, when Stevens had ridden Muy Rapido to a third-place finish. His three other mounts included another third and a second, his best chance to win coming in the sixth race when Bully’s North couldn’t hold off R. Baggio in the stretch.

“They were cheering on Gary pretty good in that one,” said Darrell Haire, the former rider who is now a representative of the Jockeys’ Guild. “You could tell the crowd was pulling for him to come back with a winner.”

The 27-day Oak Tree season, which runs through Nov. 6, might have had Stevens making his comeback, but the racing card itself was not strong and the on-track crowd of 7,304 will be remembered as the lowest since Oak Tree’s first meet in 1969. In fact, Wednesday’s opener represented the lowest turnout by far: The previous low--10,119--came last year.

The action picks up this weekend, both for Oak Tree and Stevens. Already trainers with important horses are pleased to have the services of the 37-year-old rider in stakes races. On Saturday, Stevens will ride Mynah in the $500,000 Yellow Ribbon and Mr. Freckles in the $200,000 Norfolk. Trainer Wayne Lukas has hired Stevens to ride Spain in the $500,000 Three Chimneys Spinster Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 14. Spain is owned by Ahmed Salman’s Thoroughbred Corp., which had Stevens under a private contract when he quit nine months ago.

“I’ve been doing this for 21 years, and I’m basically not going to be doing anything differently,” Stevens said. “I’m just going to try to stay fit. I’m pleasantly surprised and happy that I’ve been able to come back. One of the important things is stay relaxed. When I’m relaxed, it seems like the horses under me also relax, and that makes them easier to ride.”

Many of Stevens’ rivals in the jockeys’ room are not surprised that he’s returned.

“Gary was much too young to retire,” Kent Desormeaux said. “Horse racing flows through his veins. It’s in his blood to be a jockey.”

It seems to be in Desormeaux’s blood to open Oak Tree with gusto. He rode Evening Promise to a half-length win in the $111,700 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap, his sixth win in the stake, which until last year was called the Autumn Days Handicap.

Desormeaux hadn’t ridden Evening Promise before, and it turns out that he caught the 4-year-old English-bred filly in her last start before she’s sold at a Keeneland auction next month. Even without Desormeaux, Evening Promise was a formidable presence at Santa Anita. All four of her wins for trainer Kathy Walsh came at the track, three of them at the distance of about 6 1/2 furlongs, on the downhill turf course.

“Kathy told me to have some confidence in the filly,” Desormeaux said. “She said that if you’re way back there, don’t worry, because that’s her style. She was touting herself all the way up the hill before the race. Her eyes were alert and she was looking forward to the challenge.”

After a half-mile, Evening Promise was next to last in the 10-horse field. She was still sixth, seemingly in heavy traffic, with an eighth of a mile left.

“When I got bottled up turning for home, it was just a matter of finding some room,” Desormeaux said. “She was tugging very hard. All I needed was to find her somewhere to run. She lengthened her stride so much that you would have thought she was 20 hands tall.”

The second choice, Evening Promise paid $8.40, winning in a time of 1:13. Strawberry Way, at 81-1 the longest shot on the board, was second, a length in front of Southern House. Hookedonthefeelin, the 5-2 favorite, was in contention early before finishing ninth.

“She trains well over this course and she likes to run here,” Walsh said. “She deserves another good year of racing, so maybe after she’s sold the new owners will do that. We bought her with the intention of racing her a year and then selling her.”

The race that impressed Evening Promise’s owners, Richard Duggan and James Vreeland, was in September 1999 in England. The filly ran second at six furlongs, beaten by a head.

“She ran against the boys that day,” Walsh said, “and came very close to beating some very good horses.”

On Wednesday, Evening Promise and Hookedonthefeelin were co-high weights with 118 pounds apiece.

Strawberry Way, a 5-year-old mare ridden by Iggy Puglisi, had won eight of 33 starts, never running at Santa Anita.

“She ran super,” Puglisi said. “It kind of caught me by surprise. [Trainer Jim Chapman] told me we’d probably be stalking the pace, but if they go really fast, I was to take her way back and make one run. But she broke running and I just let her place herself in the race. She ran very, very well, and just got nailed late by a good horse.”

Desormeaux won the Autumn Days four times in a row, starting in 1991, and added win No. 5 in the stake with Dance Parade in 1998.

Notes

Mynah, Gary Stevens’ mount in the Yellow Ribbon, is trained by Kathy Walsh. “I don’t know much about Mynah,” Walsh said. “We just got her, but we have some good feelings and she’s worked well here.” Others expected to run in the Yellow Ribbon are Spanish Fern, Alexine and Tranquility Lake. The list of possibles includes Sweet Life, Country Garden, Petrizaris, Tout Charmant and Caffe Latte. . . . Jockey Corey Nakatani’s return has been delayed for another two weeks. Nakatani expected to be back sooner after he cracked a collarbone in a spill at Del Mar in August. . . . Zentsov Street, trained by Ron McAnally and ridden by Chris McCarron, beat favored David Copperfield by four lengths in the $72,850 In Excess Stakes. . . . Early Pioneer, who’ll be sidelined the rest of the year because of a muscle strain, will miss the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4. . . . Tiznow and Captain Steve are both expected to run in the $500,000 Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap on Oct. 15. Both horses would have to be supplemented in order to run in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Their plans will be related to how well Fusaichi Pegasus runs against Lemon Drop Kid in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park the day before.