Gryder changes course
Around the track, Aaron Gryder's nickname is Gryder the Rider, but after his actions on Saturday, he might have to take to the skies.
Gryder was aboard a private jet that left California with owner Paul Reddam and his wife, Zillah, and Leandro Mora, the assistant to trainer Doug O'Neill. Reddam was going to Saratoga to watch Notional in the Whitney Handicap, Mora was going to saddle Thor's Echo in the Vanderbilt, and Gryder was to ride Black Seventeen in the Vanderbilt.
About two hours into the flight, Gryder got up to see if the pilots wanted something to drink. When he went to ask, though, Gryder noticed a map of the United States between the two pilots, with a route from California to Florida highlighted.
Puzzled, Gryder asked them, "How's the weather in New York?"
"Who cares about New York?" one of the pilots responded. "We're going to sunny Florida. Sarasota, Florida."
"We're not going to Sarasota," Gryder said. "We're going to Saratoga, New York."
At that, the co-pilot took off his headset, turned to Gryder and said, "You're kidding, right?"
"It was just dumb luck," Gryder said. "All because I asked if they wanted a cup of coffee. If the door had been locked and I couldn't have talked to the pilots. . . ."
The plane arrived in Saratoga Springs about an hour later than originally scheduled. Gryder missed an earlier mount on the Saratoga card, but was there in time for the Vanderbilt, where he finished fifth aboard Black Seventeen.