HOLLYWOOD PARK : Fernando Valenzuela Gets 60-Day Drug Suspension; Summer Sale Wins Express

A little more than three weeks after cousin Patrick Valenzuela received a 60-day drug suspension, jockey Fernando Valenzuela was given the same penalty by the Board of Stewards at Hollywood Park.

Valenzuela, 20, was fined $100 and submitted to a drug test Nov. 11 after he failed to show up the day before at Santa Anita and neglected to call stewards Pete Pedersen, Tom Ward and Hubert Jones. He was named on only one horse that afternoon, a $32,000 maiden named Bones M.D. in the second race.

The stewards received written confirmation of the test results Friday morning from B.P.L. Toxicology Laboratory in Tarzana verifying the presence of cocaine and marijuana.

So, Valenzuela, who had ridden one race in the first three days at Hollywood Park, is suspended for 60 days through Jan. 16, 1990.

This determination was made after a Friday hearing at which Pedersen, Ward, Dave Samuel, Valenzuela and a California Horse Racing Board investigator were present.

The jockey, who won with two of 46 mounts at Oak Tree, elected not to have counsel and readily accepted the stewards’ ruling. He admitted to substance use on a “recreational basis.”

“He was very receptive,” Ward said. “He didn’t deny anything and he didn’t challenge the test.”

Pedersen said Valenzuela was both cooperative and candid. “He said he’s never bought cocaine,” Pedersen said. “He said it’s been available at parties.”

In order to be reinstated, Valenzuela will be required to enter a rehabilitation and testing program determined by the stewards and the Winners Foundation, an industry organization to help those with alcohol and/or substance abuse problems. When he does return to riding, he will continue to be subjected to drug tests.

Besides becoming the first apprentice to ride five winners at Santa Anita in one day since Steve Valdez did so in 1973, Valenzuela finished fourth in the Oak Tree standings last year with 19 victories.

He followed up with 30 winners at the subsequent Hollywood Park meeting, but the son of trainer Martin Valenzuela has been unsuccessful since losing his five-pound weight allowance last spring.

During the summer season in Inglewood, he won only eight times with 196 mounts and he was three for 52 at Del Mar. He did, however, wind up second behind Corey Black in the standings at the abbreviated Orange County Fair meeting.

According to the stewards, Valenzuela had five rulings issued against him during the 18-day Fairplex Park season in Pomona and this helped prompt the decision to test him a week ago.

Included were his failures to fulfill his riding engagements, to review films with the stewards after being involved in an incident during a race and to report to the paddock at the proper time.

Despite these infractions, Valenzuela wasn’t subjected to a drug test at that time.

“He’s been good,” Ward said. “He’s had a couple of rulings as far as riding infractions go, but, to my recollection, nothing out of the ordinary.”

Fernando Valenzuela’s suspension came as a surprise to one trainer, who had used him to work a horse Saturday morning. “He just told me how well the horse went,” the trainer said. “He’s always very quiet and this is totally unexpected.”

The San Diego-born jockey won’t be able to work horses again at Hollywood Park during this meeting. He is denied privileges at all operating tracks in this jurisdiction, but he could work horses at Santa Anita until this meeting ends Christmas Eve. He could then reverse the procedure when Santa Anita begins Dec. 26.

Opening day in Arcadia is when Pat Valenzuela will be eligible to return. He was suspended Oct. 27 after testing positive for cocaine.

The streak continues for Northern California-based horses in this part of the state.

Six days after Brown Bess dominated her rivals in the Yellow Ribbon and three days after Owiseone won the Moccasin, Summer Sale made it three in a row for the Bay Meadows brigade with a narrow victory in the $84,750 Hollywood Turf Express Saturday at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Brenna Hernandez for her husband-trainer Richard Tate, Summer Sale chased Sunny Blossom through some fast fractions, got the lead a sixteenth of a mile from the finish, then lasted by a head over Ofanto to score in 1:07 4/5 for the six furlongs on turf.

Sent off at 14-1, the 3-year-old Summertime Guy gelding out of the prolific producer General Store provided the Hernandez-Tate partnership with their biggest victory.

Winless in his last five appearances, Summer Sale showed again sprinting might be all he really wants to do. Each of his five wins have come around one turn.

Riding for the first time locally, Hernandez thought she had lost the photo to Ofanto, who rallied from far back under Gary Stevens.

“I thought he had caught us,” said the jockey, who rides only sparingly in the north, primarily for her husband of six years. “It seems with this horse somebody is always catching us at the end.

“I’m glad the jock’s room was close to the paddock or I would have gotten lost. I’m one for one here, so maybe I just better quit and go home. It’s just nice to ride such a good horse. He’s still immature. We hope he’ll keep getting better and better.”

This was also the first local win for Tate, 38, who met his wife while working in Billings, Mont. He trained at other small outposts before arriving in Northern California four years ago.

“This is certainly a better place to win than Wyoming,” said Tate, who trains Summer Sale for The Hat Ranch. “My wife doesn’t ride for me all the time, but she really fits this horse. This is a real free-running horse who doesn’t want to be taken a hold of.

“He just wants to go and he gets real bold with her. Brenna gallops him every morning and really knows him. I have no idea what’s next. You always look for the one big horse and this is my first big horse. I’ll sit back, have a couple of drinks and I’ll think about it.”

Favored Oraibi was third, a length back of Ofanto and a neck in front of Sunny Blossom, who showed the way through early fractions of :21 3/5 and :44.

Horse Racing Notes

Summer Sale paid $30.60 to win and the $51,000 payday boosted his earnings to $135,475. . . . Among others, General Store produced Double Discount, who holds the world record (1:57 2/5) for 1 1/4 miles on the turf. . . . When asked if she was older or younger than her husband, Brenna Hernandez would say only, “I’m lovelier.” . . . The only other female jockey to win a stakes at Hollywood Park was P.J. Cooksey, who scored an upset on So Vague in the 1983 Hollywood Prevue.

Although most of the attention was focused on Hernandez, Russell Baze had four victories Saturday to take the lead in the jockey standings after four days. He won the first on 12-1 shot On Easy Street, the fourth aboard Afloat, the sixth on 11-1 outsider King Taufan and the seventh with another longshot, Secret Selection at 13-1. . . . Saratoga Chill, most impressive breaking her maiden by 12 lengths in her first start at Oak Tree for Wayne Lukas, has a cracked coffin bone and will be sidelined for at least two months. . . . Ruhlmann, who hasn’t been out since being blitzed by Rahy in the Bel Air Handicap last July, will return in the Citation Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on the turf a week from today.