Eric Risberg / AP

Hall of Fame jockey Russell Baze atop Two Step Cat after winning his 10,000th race at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif.

Baze has no plans for retirement. He turns 50 in August and wants to continue riding as long as his health and desire remain strong. But his superiority is currently confined to North America.

A challenger unknown to Baze before 2006 has emerged in Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo. He passed Baze on the career victory list last February and hit 10,000 on Jan. 9. Ricardo had won 10,041 races through Thursday. He was set to ride 13 races Saturday.

Eager to increase the distance between him and Baze, Ricardo moved from Brazil to Argentina, where he races at three tracks that offer up to 14 races daily.

Baze typically rides eight or nine races daily at Golden Gate or Bay Meadows, the historic track south of San Francisco. That adds up to about 1,200 races a year. In 2007, Ricardo rode in nearly 1,000 more races than Baze.

“If he’s willing to ride over 2,000 races a year, he can have it. I’m just not willing to work that hard, and I really don’t have the opportunity to ride that many races a year,” Baze said. “I’m kind of in awe of anybody that can physically do that. It’ll be interesting to me how long he can keep it up.”

Ricardo, who is 46, has competed a few times in the United States, but the two riders could meet up in August.

Baze plans to make his first trip to England to compete against top jockeys from Britain and Ireland at Ascot. Organizers are trying to entice Ricardo to join Baze on “the rest of the world” team.

Surpassing Pincay was the biggest achievement of a career that Baze has spent mostly in the San Francisco suburbs, far from racing’s biggest stages in Southern California, New York, Kentucky and Florida. He has never won a Triple Crown or Breeders’ Cup race.

Baze is the undisputed king of the Bay Area. His winning percentage is a gaudy 31 during the current meeting.

Much of Baze’s success is the result of staying healthy and not battling weight for much of a career that began in 1974 in Yakima, Wash., when he rode his first winner, a horse trained by his father, Joe.

Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows honored Baze’s latest milestone with a presentation. The tracks donated $10,000 in Baze’s name to two charities chosen by him.

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