Twenty-nine years after winning aboard Sporting Event, jockey Gary Baze is returning to Portland Meadows looking to win another Portland Meadows Mile. The $30,000 added Mile is the signature event at Portland Meadows, and will go as race nine on an eleven race program on Monday. Baze is aboard the morning line favorite, Desert Sea, whom he rode to a fast closing second in the Governor's Handicap on February 18th. Assigned the co-highweight at 123 pounds, Desert Sea is listed at 3 to 1 on the morning line.
Gary Baze is starting his comeback that he hopes will continue into the spring and summer at Emerald Downs in Seattle. In a recent article in the Daily Racing Form article, Baze stated that intends to ride at Portland and Turf Paradise until April 1st, at which point he will return to Emerald and start getting on horses there. Baze actually served as the Clerk of Scales at Emerald Downs in 2007.
Gary Baze has won numerous northwest riding titles, including several at Portland Meadows. All told, the 52 year-old rider has won 3,387 races in over 35 years of riding. Some of his most famous mounts have come aboard Northwest racing icons such as Captain Condo, Trooper Seven, Chum Salmon and Judge Angelucci. He is maybe most famously known for his record five wins in the Longacres Mile.
Baze will have six mounts on Mile Day, but his two best chances come in the day's richest races. Along with riding the morning line favorite, Desert Sea in the Mile, Baze will be aboard Turf Paradise shipper Me O Me O My in the $20,000 Donna Jensen Handicap. The 7 year-old mare is winless since October of 2006, however she has been racing against stakes-caliber runners in Phoenix.
Both the Mile and Donna Jensen are part of the $20,000 Guaranteed Pick 5 with mandatory payout that covers races 6 through 10. First post is 12:35p