Valenzuela Draws 60-Day Suspension

Jockey Patrick Valenzuela was suspended for 60 days today by stewards at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting because traces of cocaine were found in his system in a test taken last Friday.

The Board of Stewards had ruled Thursday morning that Valenzuela could not ride at the Oak Tree meeting Thursday, today and Saturday. The stewards announced the longer suspension today.

Valenzuela, 27, is suspended from California tracks during race meetings and from other tracks across the country. He won’t be eligible to ride again until after Christmas.

The suspension means that Sunday Silence, whom Valenzuela rode to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes last spring, will be ridden by Chris McCarron in the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream on Nov. 4, according to Scotty McCellan, McCarron’s agent.

McCarron had been tentatively scheduled to ride Mi Selecto in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Because of the switch, Laffit Pincay will ride Mi Selecto.

Steward Pete Pedersen said the board had been informed that Valenzuela will not contest the penalty.

Pedersen said Valenzuela denied using cocaine and added that no further hearings are scheduled.

Valenzuela hasn’t ridden since calling in sick Oct. 13. Stewards ordered him to meet with them before he would be allowed to resume riding. He took a drug test last Friday and, initially, it was reported that the results were negative.

Apparently there was confusion between the initial report and the written report, which showed a positive result for cocaine.

Further tests taken last Sunday were negative, Pedersen said.

Valenzuela has been in trouble before for missing riding assignments, but this was the first positive result of a cocaine test for him in California. He did test positive once in New Mexico, but the test was later overturned on procedural grounds.

In March, 1988, Valenzuela was suspended indefinitely by the California stewards for repeated riding absences without adequate excuse. After being reinstated, he won leading jockey honors for the Oak Tree meeting last fall.