Top Jockey Suspended For Whip Use On Horse

Russell Baze, the winningest jockey in thoroughbred racing history, was suspended for 15 days and fined on Sunday for using his whip on an injured horse who later died.

Baze, who has 9,826 career victories, was headed to an easy win aboard Imperial Eyes in the first race Thursday at Bay Meadows when the horse took a bad step and broke down in the deep stretch. According to a Bay Meadows spokesman, Baze urged Imperial Eyes forward after the horse recovered from the initial bad step, using his whip twice.

Imperial Eyes still finished second, but had a broken bone in his left front leg. The 4-year-old gelding was euthanized after going into distress while his handlers contemplated surgery.

Though Imperial Eyes' trainer said he didn't blame Baze for the horse's death, saying Baze couldn't have known the extent of the horse's injury, the Hall of Fame jockey was repentant.

"I'm not going to try to defend what I did," said Baze, who rode two winners at his home track Sunday. "There is no way to defend it. I made a bad decision in the heat of the moment, and I am truly sorry. Hopefully, this will not be the defining moment of my career. Hopefully, I'll be judged on the right decisions I've made in the past and on the right decisions I'll make in the future."

Bay Meadows' board of stewards held a hearing on Baze's conduct Saturday and fined him $2,500 and suspended him from Sept. 2-16. Baze will miss 11 race programs.

The 49-year-old Baze broke Laffit Pincay Jr.'s record for career victories on Dec. 1, 2006, winning his 9,531st race aboard Butterfly Belle at Bay Meadows.

In June, a veteran jockey who kicked his horse in the stomach before a race was suspended for 30 days and fined $1,000 by Philadelphia Park officials. Victor Molina said the feisty horse flipped in the starting gate and his head struck the jockey flush in the chest. Molina's chest went numb and he lost his cool.