By ED GOLDEN

Even when he’s on a horse, Gary Stevens has both feet on the ground.

When he’s in his role as president of the Jockeys’ Guild, he’s just as focused. The 34-year-old rider is one of the game’s most respected people, on or off a horse. And he’s one of its best spokespersons.

So when Gary Stevens expresses cause for alarm that members of the Jockeys Guild and the Thoroughbred Racing Association, who represent race tracks and horsemen in their contract negotiations with the riders, may not reach agreement on a new contract before the present pact expires on Dec. 31, you know he’s not whipping a dead horse.

Stevens hopes the issues can be resolved before Guild members have their annual meeting at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas the weekend of Dec. 6-7. But he was not encouraging. And if there is no agreement, on Jan. 1, 1998, there will be no Stevens, Solis, McCarron, Nakatani, Delahoussaye and Desormeaux on horseback in the races at Santa Anita. Only obscure exercise riders and jockeys who do not honor the Guild’s position.

"We’re pretty much in the same pickle we were three years ago," Stevens said, referring to the possibility of a strike by members of the Guild that was averted at the last minute in 1994. "We need to get our contract settled. Insurance costs are going up and the number of horses running throughout the United States is dropping drastically, and that’s how we’re supplemented, in exchange for our media rights.

"Each track pays so much per mount. The number of mounts has decreased, so, obviously, our shortfall is greater. We’re trying to figure ways to work with the race tracks and horsemen to best supplement our insurance needs.

"I feel our media rights (for insurance coverage) is a worthy trade-off. Three years ago, that was a big issue--whether jockeys did have media rights. At this point in time, I believe the owners and the trainers have figured out that they also have media rights and our rights have been taken advantage of for years and years. We’ve stood up for what we thought was right and hopefully we’re going to have the horsemen on our side this time.

"(But) I’ve got to be quite honest with you. Negotiations aren’t going well. We attempted to start negotiations much earlier in the year this time, but that didn’t happen. We let it be known that we did not want to face an 11th-hour decision as we did three years ago. But it looks as though that may happen again.

"The jockeys are very united in their beliefs and in what we deserve, and we’re going to stand up for that. Hopefully, it won’t come down to what it did three years ago. Hopefully, it can be resolved well before Dec. 31."

The Jockeys’ Guild and the TRA committee has held ongoing meetings in an effort to agree on a new contract. They met on Oct. 20 in New York and on Oct. 28 in Chicago, and as recently as Monday (Nov. 24) at Aqueduct. The Guild has pressed its demands that jockeys receive certain minimum insurance protections due them as, in their words, "invaluable members of the racing community."

Adds the Guild: "The Guild wants the TRA to take an active role to ensure these protections by increasing levels of contributions to the Guild by its member tracks. The TRA and the Guild agreed that, ideally, horsemen should have a greater role in ensuring that jockeys’ insurance needs are resolved, because owners benefit from risks jockeys take when they ride."

"The TRA tracks have the ball in their court right now," Stevens said. "They’ve tried to get the owners involved, see if they have any ideas. Unfortunately, the TRA is trying to put the ball in the owners’ court. (But) I believe the owners (already) are paying the brunt of everything that’s going on in horse racing right now. The last thing they need is to be burdened with our worries."

Only a relative handful of riders earn a successful living from purse money. Most jocks scrape what they can from mount fees, which Stevens said is $65 a mount in Southern California.

"That’s something else that has not increased with the rate of inflation over the years," Stevens pointed out. "We’re basically where we were 10 years ago, and things have escalated quite a bit just over the last five years, and we haven’t been able to keep up. We’re not even maintaining cost-of-living increases.

"The big losers are the guys who are taking most of the risks, riding at the smaller race tracks, riding horses of lesser quality, taking greater chances. Those are the guys who aren’t meeting the normal costs of living."

Stevens cares intensely about the riders plying their trade at the bullrings, at outposts like Fresno and Fonner Park, and he’d still care even if he were not president of the Guild. He was one of them, once.

"That’s been the whole idea behind the Jockeys’ Guild since its inception," Stevens said. "The big guy takes care of the little guy. We’ve all been in that spot. I was the guy who started out in Boise, Idaho, and I had the same insurance benefits that the guy riding here in Southern California had. That still stands today, whether a guy’s riding in Boise, Idaho, or Montana or Utah or wherever. They’re a Jockeys’ Guild member. They have the exact same benefits that Gary Stevens has in Southern California."

Stevens wanted to be hopeful that progress would be made at Monday’s Aqueduct session. "But I’m not real optimistic," he added. "I may be one of the few on the (negotiating) team that’s not optimistic, but I’m a realist and I’ve been through this before. I can kind of see the writing on the wall."

Not taking sides here, but it’s like I wrote before: I know of no other profession where an ambulance follows behind its employees every time they go to work.

AVAILABILITY -- Ran into dynamo but closed from another county to finish with good energy. Won’t be a maiden long.

BAIZE -- Couldn’t have won $70,000 turf sprint any easier. Ready for tougher.

DEFLEET -- Would have been an easy second with better judgement by jock, better racing luck. Just needs clear sailing versus allowance turf routers.

HAIL THE HERO -- Rangy colt left no prisoners in debut, could have stakes victories in his future.

HEPTATHLON -- Went from last to first with push-button move in first start in 16 months, Gray daughter of Runaway Groom ready for stakes company on turf.

SEA OF SECRETS -- Unbeaten 2-year-old son of Storm Cat won geared down in one of meet’s easiest wins. If you can still get 100-1 in Derby Future Book, get down.

SHARK’EES -- Lost all chance few strides after break, finished powerfully while rallying wide. Tab against $32,000 sprinters.

THE HOMESTRETCH: Trainer Cliff Sise Jr. reports his crack speedster, Paying Dues, second in the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Sprint, is prepping for his return in Santa Anita’s El Conejo Handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 4 . . . Grant Hofmans, filling in for his dad, David, who was vacationing in Northern California’s wine country, saddled Hail The Hero to an impressive victory first time out. "He’s bred for the grass," Grant said of the promising son of turf stalwart Theatrical, "but he’s such a big colt and has such big feet, we’ll see if it holds true. He’s talented and definitely has a future on dirt. He reminds of me of Dramatic Gold. They both wear a large shoe, size eight." . . . Best-named newcomer is a 3-year-old filly by Lear Fan-Chateau Dancer. Her name: Sally Rand. She waltzed home seventh in her debut.