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TagsBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Personal issues with depression may have played a part in the death of jockey Michael Baze, who was found dead in a car on Tuesday at Churchill Downs.
Earlier this year at the Oaklawn Park meet, Baze failed a breathalyzer test before the scheduled card of races that day in March, was taken off his mounts, and fined $500.
And according to Mail Online, Baze had been arrested on charges of possession of a controlled substance after midnight on November 18 last year, and was due in court Thursday.
"Apparently he was going through some trouble," Baze’s agent in California Ron Ebanks said to the LA Daily News. "He went through a separation with his wife and I think that depressed him. Sadness and depression are the worst things in the world for anyone, and I think that got a hold of him.”
"Michael was a clean, clean kid out here. This just shocks me because I thought the world of him. He was so special and so young," he added.
The Paulick Report says it is believed Baze drove to Louisville from Chicago and was set to begin riding at Churchill Downs. Reportedly the car had been parked in the stable area for several hours with the engine running.
The 24-year old Baze, who rode at Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands in 2003, was from a famous racing family. His father, Mike, was a jockey in the Pacific Northwest, and his cousin is Tyler Baze, a former Eclipse Award winner and a top journeyman rider. Hall of Famer Russell Baze became the first jockey to reach 11,000 wins in his career. Gary Baze, riding at Longacres near Seattle, is his uncle.
Baze won the first stakes race of his career atop Moorish Prince at Monmouth Park on Sept. 1, 2003. Michael credited being able to ride day and night at New Jersey’s racetracks for preparing him to return to California’s difficult racing circuit in 2006.
The best year for Baze came in 2007 when his mounts earned more than $9.3 million. Overall, he won 918 races from 6,969 starts including 53 stakes victories and 20 graded stakes wins, for career earnings of $32.4 million.
Baze rode Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro to a second-place finish in the Louisiana Derby at the Fair Grounds earlier in 2011.
A Louisville police spokeswoman said an autopsy was now planned to establish the cause of death.
for him after all his hard work. Pity his family
were not closer to him or his ex wife a better friend.
Sorry to hear this today.