Dear Dana

I agree with you that I do not wish Tyler Baze any ill will -- especially in light of his publicized problems (wasn't he the guy who flew to Indiana only to be sat down by the stewards and not allowed to ride? if yes, why does Indiana have better stewards than California?).

Nevertheless, he has cost me more money than any other jockey ever period. In fairness, this was due to one extraordinarily bad ride he gave me in 2002 on a Baffert filly who figured to lay over a field when I had a gi-normous pick six on the line (his bad ride cost me 900k -- figures okay, not a typo). I have found that when I am betting a track he is riding at and there are other good jockeys in the race, I penalize his horse 2 points (although I am cautious if he is likely to be lone speed). This has worked out quite well for me. I still am forced to play him sometimes, but only when he is on a really powerful horse. I feel bad for the guy, but he is just awful and I agree with you -- any trainer giving him a leg up is nuts. Having said that I haven't necessarily noticed him particularly worse on front runners rather than any other type of horse -- I have found him to be universally awful.

SoCalMan2