Athletes - Russell Baze

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	Athletes - Russell Baze

Russell Baze (born August 7, 1958 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian-born thoroughbred race horse Hall of Fame jockey and the current leading jockey in the United States.

Russell Baze, the son of jockey Joe 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 early1980s he was making a name for himself, winning racing titles at northern California racetracks including victory in the 1981 California Derby. Baze went on to lead United States thoroughbred horse racing in victories seven times. He has won thirty-three riding titles at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo, California and twenty-six titles at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley. After winning 400 or more races in a year for four consecutive years, in 1995 Baze was honored with a special Eclipse Award for his feat. Since then he has won 400 or more races in a year seven additional times. To put this accomplishment in perspective, Baze has won 400 or more races in a year eleven times whereas 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 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. On January 22, 2005, Baze surpassed the late Bill Shoemaker in total wins, only retired jockey Laffit Pincay, Jr. has more, with 9,530. In pursuit of Pincay's record, on June 2, 2005 he became only the second jockey to record 9,000 career victories.

For 2005, Baze is again the leading jockey in the U.S. but on June 8th he sustained severe injuries including a fracture of his left collarbone in a bad fall during the third race at Golden Gate Fields. He will be out of racing for four to eight weeks but is far ahead of his nearest rival in total wins for the year to date. Baze previously missed two months of racing after breaking his right collarbone on November 30, 2003.

Baze and his wife Tami have three daughters and one son.

Major stakes race wins:

Jim Beam Stakes (1998)
Oak Tree Invitational (1984,1989)
Oak Leaf Stakes (1990)
Del Mar Debutante (1986)
Golden Gate Handicap (1982, 2000)
Bay Meadows Handicap (1982, 1995, 2005)
El Camino Real Derby (1984, 1998, 2005, 2006)
California Derby (1981)
Bay Meadows Breeders’ Cup Sprint (2002)
Longacres Mile (1988, 2004, 2005)
King's Bishop Stakes (2005)

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