There are not many times in life that one gets a “do over”.   This Sunday, January 6, retired jockey Gary Stevens will no longer be retired.  Gary will get his chance to ride again at Santa Anita Park.  Stevens is scheduled to ride in the 6^th race, a $50,000 claiming race that will be eight furlongs on the turf.  He will be aboard Jebrica, a 5-year-old stakes-winning gelding trained by Jim Penney for R & R Warren, LLC.

There has been much speculation about Stevens returning to riding after he began galloping horses in the morning.  Stevens said that his passion for riding has returned.  He said he wanted to 100% sure about returning to the saddle and not make a premature announcement.

“The main reason I’m still doing this is the passion is still there . . . I should say my passion has come back,” said Stevens, just 2 months shy of 50 years old.  Stevens won 4,888 races and over $221 million during his career. He was a Kentucky Derby winner three times (1980 Winning Colors, 1995 Thunder Gulch, 1997 Silver Charm), won the the Preakness Stakes twice and won the Belmont Stakes three times before retiring as a jockey in 2005.

“I worked a couple of very good horses in the morning here at Santa Anita for some top trainers that kind of made the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” Stevens added. “I missed that feeling, and I hadn’t felt it for a long time. I didn’t know how much I was missing it.

Stevens said in a teleconference that he had been training and working on healthier eating habits through the 20/20 LifeStyles program based in Bellevue, Washington. While he was enrolled in the program, he worked with a personal trainer on conditioning and maintaining a healthier, high protein diet.

Stevens does not have an agent as of yet, but has been in talks with a couple potential representatives. For now, he will be ‘booking his own mounts’. He made the announcement on Thursday afternoon on HRTV.

Stevens said there is no guarantee that he will survive the rigors of riding again in races that count. Riding a race is a lot different than exercising horses in the morning. He said his safety net will be his TV work.

“I don’t know that it won’t happen and therefore the reason I’m not relinquishing my position at HRTV or my spot behind the desk with Tom Hammond and Randy Moss for the Triple Crown races and the lead-up races is that I don’t know that that pain won’t come back,” he said. “Only time will tell.”

The last time we talked about Gray Stevens was as a commentator for the Kentucky Derby – see https://kentuckyderbytours.com/blog/2012/05/02/tv-schedule-of-coverage-for-kentucky-derby-is-over-27-hours/ Kentucky Derby Tours looks forward to seeing Gary ride again!