Bay Meadows jockeying for position behind Baze.

Byline: Chuck Dybdal

SAN MATEO_Bay Meadows opens a 52-day fall meeting tonight, but it likely will be missing something it had last spring_a jockey race.

For one of the few times since he began to dominate the local scene in 1981, Hall of Famer Russell Baze was pushed in the race to be the spring meet's leading rider.

Baze prevailed over Jason Lumpkins by a slim 95-89 margin, but Lumpkins currently is riding in West Virginia and won't return to California before the Golden Gate Fields meeting is under way in November.

Baze hasn't lost a local jockey title since 1981, with the exception of a three-year stint in Southern California.

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