All Jockeys, Horses Escape Serious Injury In Seven-Horse Spill At Del Mar

Jockey agent Vince DeGregory, who turns 89 years old Aug. 29, thought he had seen it all – at least until Sunday's seventh race at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“In all of my years on the racetrack since I was 16, it's over 70 years that I've seen horse racing, I never saw anything like that one in my lifetime,” DeGregory said.

The legendary agent was referring to the chain-reaction spill that began when his rider, apprentice Diego Herrera, clipped heels while aboard Sassy Chasey approaching the far turn of the six-furlong maiden claiming race for fillies and mares. After Sassy Chasey and Herrera went down, six other horses also fell or lost their riders, leaving just five of the 12 starters to finish the race.

Miraculously, there were no serious injuries among jockeys or horses, with four riders going to a local hospital for evaluation before being discharged. Among the seven horses, there were only a few lacerations that required stitches. All were back in their stalls Sunday night.

Sassy Chasey was racing in third, in between frontrunners Katie's Paradise to the outside and Scream and Shout along the rail when she appeared to clip the heels of Katie's Paradise and went down, setting off the chain reaction that involved Backtoflash and Cesar Ortega; Whiskey Blue and Kyle Frey; Siena Silk and Emily Ellingwood; Renegade Princess and Tyler Baze; Phoenix Tears and Tiago Pereira; and Corners Up and Juan Espinoza.

Sassy Chasey scrambled to her feet with a saddle that slipped back from the impact of hitting the ground and began bucking while heading off in the wrong direction up the backstretch. At least two other horses scrambled to their feet and ran in that direction, while four runners continued behind the field without their riders.

The race was completed, with Mongolian Panther finishing first under Edwin Maldonado, but stewards would eventually declare the event “no contest,” citing a California Horse Racing Board rule giving stewards the option to do so if “mechanical failure or interference during the running of the race affects the majority of horses in such race.”

Flavien Prat, who was aboard one of the two early leaders, Scream and Shout, said he was unaware of the accident until the finish when he saw horses galloping around the clubhouse in the wrong direction. One of those horses, Phoenix Tears, jumped over a temporary railing at the gap near the seven-eighths pole that leads to the stables. The other horses were rounded up by outriders.

Four of the jockeys, who walked across the infield while medical personnel attended to Baze, Ellingwood and Ortega, were greeted with cheers from the crowd as they returned to the jockeys' room.

Pereira, who only 24 hours earlier won his first U.S. Grade 1 race in the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic, stopped along the railing to kiss his wife and young daughter. Pereira's agent, Patty Sterling, said Pereira's wife urged him to go to a local hospital for evaluation after he said his hip was sore. Baze, Ellingwood, Ortega and Pareira all went to Scripps La Jolla for X-rays and CT scans.

On Monday morning, agents for the four riders said each had some degree of body soreness but no broken bones or concussions. Reports on all seven horses were also positive, with no serious injuries documented, with only a few minor lacerations that required stitches.

DeGregory said Herrera was also suffering from body soreness on Monday, but he was not among those who went to the hospital. Herrera will have a meeting with the stewards to review the incident. “I told him to stand up for himself,” said DeGregory, who believes the outside horse, ridden by Jose Valdivia, made it too tight for Sassy Chasey as the field approached the far turn. “I told him, 'When they show you the head-on shot you'll have a better idea of what happened.'”

Sterling said Pereira had soreness in his ribs and right hip but that he hoped to ride Thursday afternoon while taking mornings off until then.

Sterling also represents Ortega, an apprentice who has been involved in two other mishaps this meet while struggling to find the winner's circle. She said the 26-year-old would take off the rest of the meet, regroup and point for the Los Alamitos meeting that follows Del Mar's closing day Sept. 6.

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Jack Carava, agent for Tyler Baze, said the rider complained of some chest pain Sunday night and overall body soreness on Monday morning. He will take the week off, including a scheduled trip West Virginia to ride Restrainedvengence for trainer Val Brinkerhoff in Friday's $800,000 Charles Town Classic. He said Baze will return to ride the final week at Del Mar, Sept. 2-6.

Agent Fernando Navarro said his two riders, Ellingwood and Frey, both worked horses Monday morning and will ride this week. Ellingwood has bruising of the rotator cuff, Navarro said.

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Tyler Baze ‘Happy To Be Home’ With Family, Riding At Del Mar Again

Halfway through Saturday's fourth race at Del Mar, a mile $25,000 claimer on the main track, jockey Tyler Baze and his mount Pubilius Syrus, the 5-2 betting favorite, were 10 lengths behind and appeared destined for a distancing loss.

Three-quarters of the way through, they were still 7 1/2 lengths behind and were in front, by just a head, of only one rival in the field of seven.

However, in a turn of events that makes racing exciting, they sprinted past everyone in front of them in the last quarter and won by a neck.

“He (Pubilius Syrus) didn't want to run until he was ready, that's all I can say,” Baze said afterward. “I was ridin' and ridin' and he wasn't giving me nothing. Then all of a sudden he just turned on the afterburners and went. I thought, 'Finally, gosh he was making me work way too hard.'”

Carrying on the family tradition of his cousin Russell, who retired as North America's all-time leading jockey with 12,842 wins, Tyler was horsebacking at age 3 and riding professionally at 17. Baze, now 38, won an Eclipse Award as North America's top apprentice in 2000 and was a Southern California circuit regular until the storms, literal and figurative, at Santa Anita in 2019 prompted a move to the Midwest for the good of his business and family.

The venture was successful enough, even through the COVID-19 complications of 2020. But there was the desire to get back to Southern California and be with his family at their home near Santa Anita. And, at the end of summer came an opportunity to have respected horseman Jack Carava – who ended a 33-year training career – as his agent.

So, in September, Baze was back riding in Southern California with intentions of staying but more aware than ever of the uncertainties of life.

“You never know what's going to happen,” Baze said. “But California racing is good, my family's here and I'm happy to be home. Jack (Carava) is great. I'd ridden for him for 20 years and when he said he wanted to make a career change I jumped at the opportunity to work with him.”

Baze, of course, was delighted to get back to his wife and three children.

“Ages 3, 4 and 6 and they're only going to be kids once,” Baze said. “They're happy that I get to see them every day. They were missing daddy a lot.”

Like everyone else, 2020 has been a year of dealing with COVID for Baze. Initially on the Midwest circuit in Arkansas and Kentucky, lately in California.

“Everywhere you go the rules are different,” Baze said. “I just try to keep pretty isolated. There ain't no going shopping at the mall. My kids have pretty much stayed at home since it all started. It's crazy times and we're fortunate to be running (horse races).

“Everybody needs to do what they can to stay safe. Everybody needs to do their part.”

The win on Pubilius Syrus was No. 6 from 37 mounts at the meeting. He also has two seconds and three third-place finishes. “It's going well, can't complain,” Baze said.

It also was win No. 999 in the career of trainer Mark Glatt, who figures to notch milestone No. 1,000 during the Bing Crosby Season. The first opportunity comes in today's second race when Baze rides Win Like Coach P, 5-1 on the morning line.

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Trainer Jack Carava Announces Career Shift, To Serve As Agent To Jockey Tyler Baze

Popular trainer Jack Carava, who notched an upset win with his penultimate starter on Monday at Del Mar, has announced he'll hang up his morning stopwatch and embrace Santa Anita's Autumn Meet Condition Book One as he'll now serve as agent for jockey Tyler Baze, who is returning to ride full time at The Great Race Place after an eight month absence.

“The time is right,” said Carava, 54, who has operated both a public and private stable in Southern California for the past 33 years. “I've had a lot of success with Tyler over the years and he's probably the hardest working jock I've ever known. I love training, but my stable has contracted over the past couple years and when Tyler called me, I realized this is a great opportunity.

“He rode at Oaklawn this winter and he's been in Kentucky all summer. He's excited to be back home with his family and he's got a lot customers here that are anxious to get him back on their horses. It'll take a little time to let everyone know that we're working together, but with Tyler's work ethic, I know we're gonna be in good shape. The book is out, so I've already taken some calls and we'll just approach everything day by day.”

The son of a trainer, Carava worked under trainers Jerry Fanning and Joe Griffin prior to setting out on his own in 1987. With his win in Monday's fifth race at Del Mar with Harper's Gallop ($15.80), Carava, who was Hollywood Park's Spring Summer leader in 2001 and was leading trainer at Santa Anita's 2002 Oak Tree Meet, leaves his shed row with 1,107 career wins, which contributed to stable earnings of $32.4 million and also included five graded stakes victories.

Baze, 37, who was America's Eclipse Award winning apprentice jockey in 2000, won the $500,000 More Than Ready Stakes with longshot Barrister Tom ($90.00) for trainer Michael Ewing at Kentucky Downs on Labor Day, giving him 2,718 career wins. He and his wife Christina reside in nearby Monrovia with their two daughters, Emilia, six, and Isla, four, along with one son, Luca, three.

Santa Anita's 18-day Autumn Meeting will open on Saturday, Sept. 19 and run through Sunday, Oct. 25.

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Carava To Cease Training to Become Jockey’s Agent

Jack Carava, who saddled better than 1,100 winners in a career dating back to 1986, has announced he is trading in his stopwatch in exchange for a condition book, as he will book mounts on behalf of Tyler Baze beginning with the Santa Anita fall meet Sept. 19. Baze is returning to California following an eight-month absence.

“The time is right,” said Carava, 54, who has operated both a public and private stable in Southern California for the past 33 years. “I’ve had a lot of success with Tyler over the years and he’s probably the hardest-working jock I’ve ever known. I love training, but my stable has contracted over the past couple years and when Tyler called me, I realized this is a great opportunity.”

Carava, the son of a trainer, worked for Jerry Fanning and Joe Griffin before launching his own stable in 1987. Carava celebrated the best year of his career in 2001, sending out 74 winners from 355 starters (21%) and was the leading conditioner at the Hollywood Park Spring/Summer meeting that year and at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet in 2002. He retires with stable earnings of $32.4 million and five graded wins, including the 2006 GI Bing Crosby H. with Washington-bred Pure As Gold (Stolen Gold).

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