HOLLYWOOD PARK : Valenzuela Ends Suspension With Return Today

Pat Valenzuela, who hasn’t ridden since Oct. 6, returns from suspension today, named on three horses at Hollywood Park.

Valenzuela, 32, rode the first two days of the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita, then took off his mounts Oct. 7 and was scheduled to ride Alex The Great in the Turf Classic at Belmont Park for trainer Rodney Rash on Oct. 8.

The jockey, who has had previous substance-abuse problems, went to New York but called the Belmont Park stewards and said he was ill and couldn’t ride.

That set off a chain of events that ended in Valenzuela’s being suspended indefinitely by the Oak Tree stewards.

Then that ruling was set aside after the jockey had met with the stewards and he was handed a 20-day suspension, which ended Wednesday. Since Nov. 13, Valenzuela had been allowed to work horses in the morning at Santa Anita.

If morning-line maker Russell Hudak is right, Valenzuela will return with a winner. He is aboard 8-5 favorite Preferred Road in the fourth race. His two other mounts are longshots, 8-1 outsider Snow Major in the sixth and 30-1 shot Ataboy Chad in the ninth.

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Uncaged Fury, who won the California Cup Sprint by a head over longshot Ke Express, is the 2-1 favorite in the $100,000 On Trust Handicap today at Hollywood Park.

A 3-year-old gelded son of Kleven, Uncaged Fury hasn’t been worse than second in six starts and earned the first of his four victories in his initial start on June 17 at Hollywood Park.

Owned by Pete Fer and trained by Lewis Cenicola, Uncaged Fury has returned with three good workouts at Santa Anita since the victory and will again be ridden by Kent Desormeaux.

Restricted to California breds, the On Trust, which is run at 7 1/2 furlongs, attracted nine other entrants, among them defending champion Echo Of Yesterday.

A 5-year-old Pirate’s Bounty gelding, Echo Of Yesterday has never lost in three starts at Hollywood Park and all of the victories have been at the On Trust distance. The 5-2 second choice will be handled by Chris McCarron.

One of the other challengers is J.F. Williams, who had a lot of trouble in finishing fifth in the Cal Cup Sprint and who has always been most effective at Hollywood Park. Six of his seven victories have been at the Inglewood track. Laffit Pincay will ride for trainer Ron McAnally.

The rest of the field includes Hill Pass, Evil Wizard, Softshoe Sure Shot, Bossanova, Subtle Trouble, Goldigger’s Dream and Arp.

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Jockey Randy Romero, three-time Breeders’ Cup winner who retired on July 4, plans to return to action next Wednesday. “I didn’t want to retire,” said Romero, 36, who had worked as a bloodstock agent in recent months. “The reason I did it was because my knee was bothering me. I had an operation on (his right knee) in December and I rushed it coming back. It was my fault and when I got ready to ride, it started bothering me more and more.

“The only way I could make myself have another operation was to quit, so I did that. I got my knee cleaned up with arthroscopic surgery by a doctor from the University of Kentucky and I worked out with (the basketball team) there. It was really fun and I decided I wanted to go back (to riding). I told my wife, ‘I want to go back and I want to go to California.’ She said, ‘Go for it,’ so here I am.”

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His Legacy, the only three-time winner in the California Cup, has been retired after pulling up sore after a workout last weekend at Santa Anita.

Owned by Pete Parrella’s Legacy Ranch and trained by Dave Hofmans, the 9-year-old gelding finished his career in style, winning the Cal Cup Starter Handicap for the third time on Oct. 29. He finished his career with 14 victories in 46 starts and earned nearly $421,000.

“What can I say?” Hofmans said. “He’s what racing is all about. We’ll miss him.”

Horse Racing Notes

Post time today will be at 11:15 a.m., 75 minutes earlier than usual. There will also be a special 4 p.m. post Friday, when 13 live races are carded, six of them maiden races. . . . Strodes Creek, who hasn’t run since finishing third in the Belmont Stakes, worked a mile in 1:38 3/5 Wednesday morning. Romarin, who will take on Slew of Damascus in the Hollywood Mile on Sunday, went five furlongs in 1:02 2/5. . . . Alywow, one of 10 probable starters for Sunday’s $400,000 Matriarch, worked five furlongs on the grass in 1:00 4/5 Wednesday morning. Alywow was second to Raintrap in last month’s Rothmans International.