Gary Stevens is excited to be riding at the Breeders' Cup
Gary Stevens is excited to be riding in his first Breeders' Cup meeting since 2005 after coming out of retirement.
Last Updated: 30/10/13 10:42am
It may be 13 years since his last success at this meeting but the 50-year-old has lost none of his appetite as he aims to bridge that gap and get back on the roll of honour.
Though not all of his 13 rides over the two days are in the Breeders' Cup races, he cannot wait to be in action at Santa Anita, his local track, where he enjoyed great success first time round and rode his first comeback winner in January.
Among his booked mounts are Indy Point in the Turf, Marketing Mix in the Filly & Mare Turf and She's A Tiger in the Juvenile Fillies Dirt.
Stevens said: "It's been a good year, better than I could have hoped, and things are progressing well. I look forward to the weekend. The horses I ride are hand-picked by my agent from a select bunch of trainers, including Tom Proctor and Richard Mandella.
"You always hope for the best and expect the worst, but the nine Breeders' Cup rides I have all have legitimate claims. I hope to walk away with quite a bit of hardware (winnings) and I'll be disappointed if I don't.
"My good friend Mike Smith is riding in 12 races and he feels the same. He is as confident as I am. I guess we are entitled to be because the majority of our horses (Americans) are prepared for this one day, while the majority of the Europeans are coming off a hard season.
"For our horses, this has been their only goal. However, I do respect the claims of Dank in the Filly & Mare Turf, because Stoutey (Sir Michael Stoute) was telling me before she won the Beverly D Stakes, in which I was on Marketing Mix, that she would be heading to the Breeders' Cup with a big chance."