Out of 'Luck,' Gary Stevens gets back in the saddle The comeback of Gary Stevens was never intended for a real Triple Crown race aboard a horse named Oxbow. No preconceived game plan put him in the winner's circle at the Preakness last month, much less on his way to Saturday's Belmont Stakes. Stevens' comeback was supposed to be fictional, made for TV, on an HBO series called "Luck." His redemption was coming through his portrayal of Ronnie Jenkins, the Jack Daniels-drinking jockey character executive producer David Milch based on Stevens, who retired in 2005 after a Hall of Fame career. "He made it even darker than what I am," Stevens recently joked. I think. I hope. Not much, maybe. Stevens proved he could act a decade ago in the hit movie "Seabiscuit." He didn't have to stretch much, though, to play Jenkins. "He had a lot of demons, a dark side to him," Stevens said of his character on HBO's horse racing drama. I sort of became that guy. Stevens was looking forward to Season 2. "He was going to a good place," he said of Jenkins, "a really good place." But HBO abruptly canceled "Luck" last year after three horses died. Stevens, without Jenkins as a vehicle, was lost. "Subconsciously, I felt there was unfinished business, for him and for me," Stevens said. Stevens' only choice was to finish the story in real life. His spiral after "Luck" reached the point where his wife, Angie, almost chased him back into the saddle. It was one thing when her husband, rounding the turn toward age 50, hopped on his first mount in seven years in January. Stevens stunned everyone, though, four months later when he rode Oxbow to a surprising Preakness upset over Kentucky Derby winner Orb. Stevens became the oldest Preakness winner as he notched his ninth win in a Triple Crown race. The undercurrent leading to the "pinch-me" part was Stevens' needing something to save him. He was depressed, drinking too much and couldn't find enough adrenaline fixes on a golf course. "I felt like I was more for it than he was," Angie said of her husband's comeback. I was living with a monster.... Not a monster. But he was miserable. Stevens complained often to Angie that he still had the stuff to be a top jockey. He had won nearly 5,000 races, ridden Kentucky Derby, Breeders' Cup and Santa Anita Derby winners. Angie finally said to him "Why are you sitting here talking about this?" So Stevens quit talking.