E T Baird rode his first sanctioned race in 1985. There were plenty of subsequent ups and downs but Baird rode every year through 2017. Saturday, after a break of a year-and-a-half, Baird is set to ride again at Arlington.

Baird, a winner of 2,400 career races, and for years one of the most talented (and mercurial) riders on the Chicago circuit, had one mount Dec. 16, 2016 at Hawthorne and hasn’t ridden in a race since. Baird is 51 now but said his body is in better shape than he can remember.

“I haven’t felt this good in a long time,” Baird said Thursday. “Before I quit, I had a lot of things going on. The worst was the sciatica – compressed discs. I was lucky to sleep three hours a night. I ended up getting inversion boots and hung upside down every morning for about five minutes. For about eight months my back sounded like fireworks – all of a sudden it popped back in, and no more sciatica.”

Baird has taken several months off during the winter and spring in the past but given the long break since he rode in a race he has prepared differently than usual for this comeback.

“I started working horses the fourth of July. Normally I’d just come back and work one horse or I wouldn’t work any – just show up in the jock’s room to ride,” Baird said. “I had a big smile getting back out there. It feels like home.”