Didericksen Suspended for Year, Fined $2,000 : Jockey Also Receives Probation for Possession of Electrical Prodding Devices

Jockey Kip Didericksen, found in possession of two batteries--electrical prodding devices--shortly before a quarter horse race at Hollywood Park Aug. 2, has been suspended for a year, put on probation for another year and fined $2,000 by the track’s stewards.

George Slender, one of the Hollywood Park stewards, announced the action against Didericksen Friday and said that the jockey’s valet, John Kanis, had also been involved in the incident. The stewards also suspended Kanis for a year and gave him an additional year on probation.

John Cogorno, Didericksen’s attorney, said the 20-year-old jockey is considering appealing the stewards’ ruling to the California Horse Racing Board. An appeal would have to be filed by Monday, within 72 hours of the stewards’ action.

“What they’ve done is much too severe,” Cogorno said. “It’s tantamount to a life sentence, because Kip fights a weight problem, and in a year’s time he will be too heavy to ride.

“We feel that the sentence could be modified. Kip ‘fessed up to what he did. He didn’t hide anything, and now he’s been destroyed. All the good things he’s done, and now for one mistake his career might as well be over.”

The 5-foot 10-inch Didericksen, one of the tallest jockeys riding, won 309 races last year and led the nation. He won 101 races and the title at Los Alamitos this year, and his horses have earned more than $600,000, which ranks him third nationally.

Didericksen was on his way from the jockeys’ room to the paddock for a race Aug. 2 when a state investigator searched him and found the batteries, which are supposed to jolt horses, perhaps making them run faster.

Didericksen was removed from the mount, and his replacement, Henry Garcia, won the race.

A trainer at Hollywood Park said that Didericksen had been hoping for a six-month suspension.

“He felt that he could come back and ride after that,” the trainer said. “But anything longer and he felt that it would be too much time to overcome.”