ALL THE SAME, BUT DIFFERENT.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI HORSE RACING 

They're both big fans of little Bill Shoemaker. They're both personifications of the All-American work ethic. They're both men of grace, humility and integrity in a game that tests the last of those qualities most of all.

Whatever the controversial differences between the way Russell Baze has pursued horse racing's most famous world record and the way Laffit Pincay set it, the similarities between the two jockeys are greater.

"He's strong. He shows up every day. He rides good horses and bad horses just the same,'' Pincay said of Baze on the telephone this week. ``That's how I was.''

Baze, 48, could break Pincay's record for lifetime victories by a jockey as early as Saturday at Bay Meadows racetrack in San Mateo. After riding one winner on Thanksgiving Day, Baze was six from the 9,530 that Pincay had when he retired on doctor's orders after breaking his neck in a fall at Santa Anita in 2003. Pincay passed Shoemaker's iconic 8,833 with much fanfare at Hollywood Park in 1999.

Much is made of the fact Baze has ridden most of his 32-year career on the second-rate tracks of the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has dominated no-name jockeys, while Pincay and Shoemaker -- and Johnny Longden before them -- set their records on the top-class Southern California circuit, the best in starting gates full of Hall of Famers.

Although Baze was elected to the racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 1999, his name appears nowhere beside Pincay's, Shoe's and Longden's on the lists of winners of the nation's biggest events.

Baze gave up a shot at that sort of glory when, citing the wish to raise his four kids in the Bay Area, he returned there for good in the early 1990s after few years of middling success here.

It's a valid criticism, but one Pincay takes pains to defend Baze against.

``In my opinion, a win is a win, wherever,'' Pincay said. ``It was tough for me to win races here (in Southern California), and it was tough for me to win races in SanFrancisco and other places I went. This is about winning races. I would have been proud of winning races in (his native) Panama or riding camels in Saudi Arabia.''

Equally magnanimous, Baze admits he caught a break when Pincay caught a bad one, the injury that ended Pincay's career.

``I thought I had a chance of catching Laffit for quite a while, (but) up until (the injury) he was a moving target.''

The two say they're friendly but never became close friends. Their mutual respect seems to flow from what they have in common.

Shoemaker. Both list the late Shoe as their idol, admiration multiplied by the memory of the light touch both wish they could have copied from the man whose record stood for 29 years.

``It was his ability to make horses run (despite) being so tiny,'' Pincay said. ``He wasn't what I'd call a `strong' jockey. He did it in a different way. Also, whether he won or lost a race, he was the same way (in the jockeys' room). That was hard for me to do.''

``Shoe could finesse a horse like nobody else,'' Baze said.

Work ethic. Though they've earned the best mounts, they've never been choosy, both willing to ride chancy claiming-level horses. And both have had to battle to compete far below their natural weights, Pincay's 135 and Baze's 125.

Pincay's constant experiments with different diet and exercise plans are legendary, right down to the story about making a meal out of half an airline peanut. Baze's measures haven't been as extreme, but they would destroy the average person.

Baze eats one full meal a day, at dinner. A Payday candy bar gets him through the day. He runs up and down the stairs at home for off-day exercise, because regular jogging hurts his knees.

If he stays healthy, Baze said, ``I think 10,000 (wins) is not unreasonable.''

Grace. Maybe because they're from racing families -- Baze kin Tyler and Michael Baze are riding at Hollywood Park -- they know what this record means and what it doesn't, and both have the perspective to see the positive in what Russell Baze is about to do to Pincay's cherished number.

Pincay said he knew when he set the record that either Baze or the since-retired Pat Day would break it. Baze said Pincay told him not long ago to ``go and do it.''

``He's rooting for me,'' said Baze, who has three mounts today and seven Saturday, ``and that just puts an exclamation mark on what a gentleman he is.''

Said Pincay, who plans to be at Bay Meadows to pass the torch: ``I was very proud of being the winningest rider in the world. I hope he enjoys it just as much.''

At Hollywood Park: Horses to watch in the three Grade I races in this week's Turf Festival, which returns this holiday weekend after last year's grass-course problems:

Citation Handicap (today) -- England's Rob Roy (Corey Nakatani) stands out with a cleaner trip than he had finishing fifth in the Breeders' Cup Mile, Neil Drysdale barnmate Becrux (Patrick Valenzuela) keeps getting better, and Ashkal Way (Garrett Gomez) comes west to face a tougher field.

Hollywood Derby (Sunday) -- Showing Up (Cornelio Velasquez) has been thumping 3-year-olds and threatening elders for Barbaro's owners, and Santa Anita Derby winner Brother Derek (Alex Solis) is this good if he likes turf.

Matriarch (Sunday) -- The fillies-and-mares race could boil down to a rematch of DelMar's Palomar Handicap photo finish for winner Mea Domina (Tyler Baze) and Three Degrees (Solis).

heymodesti(AT_SIGN)aol.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Russell Baze is six away from matching Pincay's record of 9,530 victories by a jockey.

Horsephotos/NTRA

(2 -- color) Laffit Pincay Jr. broke Bill Shoemaker's record of 8,833career wins in 1999.

Scott Nelson/AFP/Getty Images

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- Kevin Modesti