ARCADIA, Calif. -- Jockey Patrick Valenzuela received a
conditional license Wednesday, allowing him to resume his riding
career for the first time since July.
The California Horse Racing Board, in conjunction with the three
stewards at Santa Anita, granted Valenzuela a new license that runs
through Dec. 31.
Valenzuela was cleared to resume riding last Friday, when the
California Horse Racing Board upheld a ruling by an administrative
law judge that voided a stewards' suspension in August.
He will be able to ride as early as Thursday if mounts already
assigned to other riders become open. He is expected to be named on
four or five mounts Saturday, including three in stakes races.
Valenzuela has to submit to drug and/or alcohol testing as
directed under the new license agreement, as was the case in his
previous licenses.
The 42-year-old Valenzuela has been suspended for drug abuse at
least 10 times since he tested positive for cocaine in 1988.
"To our knowledge, these are the strictest conditions ever
imposed on a licensee to participate in racing," senior Santa
Anita steward Pete Pedersen said. "I know of none more exacting."
The agreement allows for hair-strand testing and establishes
procedures for Valenzuela to be tested in other racing
jurisdictions, when he leaves California to ride elsewhere,
according to CHRB officials.
Hair testing is considered more effective than urinalysis in
identifying drug use.
Valenzuela had ridden for a time under a conditional license
issued in December 2001, following a 22-month suspension in
February for using amphetamines.
New CHRB executive director Ingrid Fermin, who participated in
the settlement discussion, was to meet Wednesday with other Santa
Anita jockeys to answer any questions they might have about
Valenzuela.
Eighteen jockeys petitioned the CHRB last year asking that
Valenzuela not be granted a new license. He has been suspended 11
times for substance abuse since 1988.
Valenzuela said he is at his riding weight of 117 pounds and is
physically fit.
"To me, it's like riding a bicycle, only the horses are going
faster than bicycles," he said.