Pat Valenzuela Is Scratched Again : Horse racing: He skips six California Cup races. Doctor quotes him as saying he will take about three months off.

Don’t expect to see jockey Pat Valenzuela around the race track for quite some time.

During a phone conversation with Dr. Neal Fisher, Valenzuela, who has had substance abuse problems, said he was going to “take off for three months to straighten out his life,” according to Fisher.

In a statement released by Fisher through Santa Anita, Valenzuela, 28, also told the doctor he was sick, but would refuse to be tested for drugs.

Named to ride six horses on California Cup Day, including My Sonny Boy, who went on to win the $300,000 Classic, Valenzuela called the Oak Tree stewards late Saturday morning, saying he was sick and that he wished to be taken off his mounts.

Stewards Pete Pedersen, Tom Ward and Hubert Jones told Valenzuela that if he was able, he should go to Fisher’s Covina office and be examined by Fisher’s associate, Dr. J.W. Donohoe. He was also asked to take a drug test.

Valenzuela, who was ninth in the Oak Tree standings with 11 victories from 101 mounts, later contacted Fisher, said he wouldn’t be coming in and the rest of their conversation was contained in the doctor’s statement.

“We’ve left two messages on his answering machine, but we haven’t talked to Pat since around 11 this morning,” Pedersen said.

In August, Valenzuela called in sick hours before he was scheduled to ride Sunny Blossom in a Pimlico stakes. Before he was allowed to resume riding at Del Mar, he took a drug test, which proved negative.

Valenzuela had also passed a drug test Oct. 24, three days before he went east to ride Best Pal in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. “We talked to his agent (Bob Meldahl) a couple of hours ago and he hadn’t had any contact with Pat,” Pedersen said late Saturday afternoon. Attempts to reach Meldahl, who has been Valenzuela’s agent for slightly more than a year, were unsuccessful.

Trainer Bill Spawr, who has had tremendous success collaborating with Valenzuela, was stunned by the news. “He won a race for me Friday (on Long Long Trail) and he seemed fine,” Spawr said after Jorge Velasquez replaced Valenzuela and took My Sonny Boy to a wire-to-wire victory. “He was excited about the win. That’s sad.”

The leading rider at Hollywood Park and Del Mar, Valenzuela was suspended for 60 days late last year after he tested positive for cocaine. Scheduled to ride Hawkster in the 1989 Oak Tree Invitational, he called in sick and Russell Baze went on to win in his place.