Jorge Ricardo (left) surpassed Russell Baze's record of 11,594 winners
PICTURE: Mark CranhamRicardo surpasses Baze to regain world record
Argentina: South American riding legend Jorge Ricardo has reclaimed the world record for career victories after partnering his 11,596th winner to overtake his long-term rival Russell Baze.
Ricardo, who had been trailing Baze for three years, rode a treble at San Isidro in Buenos Aires on Friday to surpass the North American, also still active in northern California. He was two behind after Friday's racing.
Celebration time: Jorge Ricardo back on top on Winning Prize
PICTURE: Marcelo SarachiBrazilian superstar Ricardo, 50, lost the lead when he was forced to spend more than six months on the sidelines to fight cancer in 2009.
He guided two-year-old Winning Prize to an eight-length victory in the ninth race at San Isidro to move ahead of Baze once more before adding a third winner later on the card.
Baze, 53, became the winningmost rider of all-time on December 1, 2006 when he rode the 9,531st winner of his career to surpass a mark established seven years earlier by Panamanian legend Laffit Pincay.
Four weeks later, Ricardo emulated Baze in surpassing Pincay’s mark, after which the overall lead changed hands on several occasions until Ricardo was sidelined.
Ricardo, who won 26 riding titles in Rio de Janeiro before moving to Argentina in 2006, became the first jockey in the world to reach 10,000 wins in January 2008, but Baze beat him to 11,000, which he reached in August 2010.
Ricardo is outscoring Baze 186-157 in their personal duel for 2012. The prolific pair have met just once, when they both rode in the 2008 Shergar Cup at Ascot.
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