Russell Baze

Russell Baze
Occupation	Jockey
Career wins	9,997 (through 1-28-08)
Major racing wins
Silky Sullivan Handicap (1981, 1988) California Derby (1981) Golden Gate Fields Handicap (1982, 2000) Bay Meadows Handicap (1982, 1995, 2005) Oak Tree Invitational Stakes (1984,1989) El Camino Real Derby (1984, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2007) Del Mar Debutante Stakes (1986) Longacres Mile Handicap (1988, 2003, 2004) San Carlos Handicap (1990) San Gorgonio Handicap (1990) Oak Leaf Stakes (1990) Jim Beam Stakes (1998) Lane's End Stakes (1998) Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap (2002) King's Bishop Stakes (2005) Sunshine Millions Dash (2005) Churchill Downs Handicap (2006) Aristides Breeders' Cup Stakes (2006)
Racing awards
George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award (2002) Isaac Murphy Award (1995-2003, 2005-2006) Eclipse Special Award (1995) United States Champion Jockey by wins (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005)
Honours
United States Racing Hall of Fame (1999)
Significant horses
Lost in the Fog

Russell A. Baze (born August 7, 1958 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is the winningest jockey in North American history and the second winningest jockey in the world history of Thoroughbred horse racing and a member of the United States Racing Hall of Fame.

Born to an American family, Russell Baze's father, Joe Baze, is a former jockey and trainer who was competing at Exhibition Park in Vancouver at the time of his birth giving him dual Canadian/American citizenship.

Russell Baze began his racing career in Walla Walla, Washington in 1973 and won his first race the following year at the Yakima racetrack. By the early 1980s he was making a name for himself, winning racing titles at northern California racetracks including a victory in the 1981 California Derby. Baze went on to lead United States thoroughbred horse racing in victories seven times. He has won 36 riding titles at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, California and 26 titles at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, California.

After winning 400 or more races in a year for four consecutive years, Baze was honored with a special Eclipse Award in 1995. Since then he has won 400 or more races in a year seven additional times; no other jockey has accomplished that feat more than three times.

In 1999, Russell Baze was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and in 2002, he was voted the recipient of the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award by his peers. From its inauguration in 1995 until 2004, Baze won the Isaac Murphy Award every year as the U.S. jockey with the highest winning percentage.

Baze holds the Santa Anita Park track record for 1 1/2 miles on turf set on October 14, 1989 aboard the 3-year-old colt, Hawkster.

In the fourth race at Bay Meadows on December 1, 2006, Baze set the world's all-time record for most career victories, passing jockey Laffit Pincay Jr., by winning race 9,531 aboard Butterfly Belle. At his current winning pace, Baze should be able to reach 10,000 by the end of January or early in February of 2008, just six months shy of his 50th birthday.

On February 5, 2007, Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo earned the 9,591st victory of his career to surpass the injured Russell Baze as the all-time leader in racing wins. [1]

During the two days of October 17 and 18, 2007, Russell Baze won eleven races. [2]

In one of the few controversial moments of his career, Baze received a 15-day suspension at the end of August 2007 for a whip violation incident in which he struck his horse with his whip twice after his mount had broken down in a race.

Baze and his wife Tami have three daughters, Trinity, Brandi and Cassie, and one son, Gable.

References

• Russell Baze at the NTRA