Gary Stevens heading to KY
Jan 17, 2013 10:43:32 GMT -5
Post by racinggal on Jan 17, 2013 10:43:32 GMT -5
Gary Stevens — the Hall of Fame jockey now eight races into his comeback after more than seven years in retirement — says he will ride the entire meet at Keeneland and is “almost definite” to do the same at Churchill Downs this spring.
Indeed, the three-time Kentucky Derby winner said he is “like at kid at Christmas waiting for Keeneland to start up.”
Stevens is at Santa Anita in Southern California, where he has been a racing analyst for TVG and HRTV since retiring. However, he and his wife, Angie, have had a home in Louisville since 2005.
“I always go back to Kentucky right after the Santa Anita Derby, the first weekend in April, and I plan to do the same thing this year,” he said. “My plan was to go back to Keeneland and then decide what I was going to do after that. Then my thoughts were ‘Louisville is home and it’s a great place to be
based out of.’ So my intentions are to stay in Kentucky and probably go to Saratoga after Churchill.”
Stevens would miss a chunk of the Churchill meet in his capacity as a racing analyst on NBC’s Triple Crown telecasts. “It’s going to take a horse I think is 1 to 9 in the Kentucky Derby for me not to be up there doing the telecasts,” he said. “They invited me into their family seven years ago. It’s not a position I want to give up.”
NBC and its new NBC Sports Network are expected to televise some of the major preps before the Derby. Stevens said the network is giving him flexibility regarding whether he works those broadcasts.
“I would look forward to riding any number of prep races and stuff,” he said. “(But) I don’t want to be there walking out onto the racetrack in the Kentucky Derby — and never did — if I didn’t feel I had a chance to get into the winner’s circle. But we all know what the chances of that are. We’ll see what happens. I don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse.”
— Jennie Rees
www.courier-journal.com/article/20130116/SPORTS08/301160154/1037/sports/Jockey-Gary-Stevens-puts-Keeneland-Churchill-meet-calendar
Indeed, the three-time Kentucky Derby winner said he is “like at kid at Christmas waiting for Keeneland to start up.”
Stevens is at Santa Anita in Southern California, where he has been a racing analyst for TVG and HRTV since retiring. However, he and his wife, Angie, have had a home in Louisville since 2005.
“I always go back to Kentucky right after the Santa Anita Derby, the first weekend in April, and I plan to do the same thing this year,” he said. “My plan was to go back to Keeneland and then decide what I was going to do after that. Then my thoughts were ‘Louisville is home and it’s a great place to be
based out of.’ So my intentions are to stay in Kentucky and probably go to Saratoga after Churchill.”
Stevens would miss a chunk of the Churchill meet in his capacity as a racing analyst on NBC’s Triple Crown telecasts. “It’s going to take a horse I think is 1 to 9 in the Kentucky Derby for me not to be up there doing the telecasts,” he said. “They invited me into their family seven years ago. It’s not a position I want to give up.”
NBC and its new NBC Sports Network are expected to televise some of the major preps before the Derby. Stevens said the network is giving him flexibility regarding whether he works those broadcasts.
“I would look forward to riding any number of prep races and stuff,” he said. “(But) I don’t want to be there walking out onto the racetrack in the Kentucky Derby — and never did — if I didn’t feel I had a chance to get into the winner’s circle. But we all know what the chances of that are. We’ll see what happens. I don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse.”
— Jennie Rees
www.courier-journal.com/article/20130116/SPORTS08/301160154/1037/sports/Jockey-Gary-Stevens-puts-Keeneland-Churchill-meet-calendar