DEL MAR : Pat Valenzuela Is Suspended Indefinitely

Pat Valenzuela’s checkered riding career took another reverse turn Thursday when the Del Mar stewards suspended him indefinitely, pending a hearing before the California Horse Racing Board.

Valenzuela, 32, whose sometimes spectacular achievements have been dimmed by several drug-related suspensions and no-shows on big race days, was suspended this time when he failed to appear before the three stewards at 10 a.m.

According to steward George Slender, Valenzuela was given a grace period of 90 minutes, after which the ruling was issued. Then at about 12:30 p.m., 90 minutes before Valenzuela was scheduled to ride in the first race, the jockey called steward Dave Samuel, said he had overslept and asked to be excused from riding for the day. Samuel told him that he had been suspended.

The stewards had planned to interview Valenzuela and test him for drugs after he called in sick Wednesday, Del Mar’s opening day. Last Sunday, when he was scheduled to ride in the $300,000 American Derby at Arlington International, Valenzuela called the stewards at the suburban Chicago track to say that he had boarded the wrong plane in Los Angeles and was stuck in Dallas. Aaron Gryder substituted for Valenzuela and rode Gold And Steel to victory.

After passing a drug test Monday, Valenzuela rode at Hollywood Park on closing day.

“When we send a case to the racing board, frequently they remand it back to us,” Slender said. “Either way, there will have to be a hearing before Valenzuela would be able to ride again. The ball’s in his court.”

Valenzuela’s most costly penalty came in 1989, when he was suspended for six months after testing positive for cocaine. Chris McCarron replaced him aboard Sunday Silence and won the $3-million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Gulfstream Park. Valenzuela had won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Santa Anita Derby with Sunday Silence earlier that year.

In 1990, the Jockeys’ Guild revoked Valenzuela’s membership after he drew another suspension. He was later reinstated.

Valenzuela, who is approaching the 3,000 mark in victories, has won six Breeders’ Cup races. A three-time riding champion at Del Mar, he won 20 races at Hollywood Park this year, finishing 13th in the standings.

Several agents have dropped Valenzuela because of his unreliability. At the Kentucky Derby in May, when Bruce Jackson needed a jockey for In Character, the trainer said he wouldn’t consider Valenzuela because he wasn’t sure the rider would show up.

Less than three weeks ago, veteran agent Harry (the Hat) Hacek started booking Valenzuela’s mounts.

“I haven’t talked to him since Monday, when he told me about the plane mix-up going to Chicago,” Hacek said Thursday. “He said he was half asleep at the airport when he woke up and got on the wrong plane.

“The stewards had no alternative [to] doing what they did this time. Pat’s a great talent, but it takes more than riding ability. It’s time for him to sink or swim. People have said I ought to drop him, but I’m not going to abandon him. He’s a good test for any agent.”

By riding in place of Valenzuela, Gary Stevens has picked up two winners in the first two days of the meet, including Nightcapper in the sixth race Thursday.

*

Lykatill Hil, who has won one of two starts since his comeback this year, is the high weight of 117 pounds for Saturday’s $150,000 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar.

Lykatill Hil, who drew the No. 4 post in a six-horse field for the 1 1/16-mile dirt race, will be ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye. After being sidelined for 7 1/2 months, Lykatill Hil returned to action in mid-June with an allowance win at Golden Gate Fields. Then he ran on grass at Hollywood Park on July 8 and finished fifth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths by Rapan Boy, who’s also running Saturday and will carry 116 pounds, the same as Blumin Affair. Others in the field are Nasr Allah, Bon Point and Luthier Fever.

Chris McCarron, riding Blumin Affair, will try to become the first jockey to win the San Diego three consecutive years. McCarron has won with Kingdom Found and Fanatic Boy the last two years.

In an earlier stake on the card, the $100,000 San Clemente Handicap at one mile on grass for 3-year-old fillies, seven horses were entered, including Auriette and Royal Vale. Auriette won the Honeymoon Handicap in May at Hollywood, then lost by three-quarters of a length three weeks later to Royal Vale. Auriette and Royal Vale will carry 119 pounds apiece, as will Scratch Paper, an invader from Nebraska who has never run on grass.

Also running are Smooth Charmer, Chanteuse, Top Ruhl and Jewel Princess.

Horse Racing Notes

Gary Stevens won three races through the first six races Thursday, then Alex Solis captured the last three, including a victory aboard the longshot Party Season. Trained by Neil Drysdale, Party Season began his career in Europe and won for the first time in his fourth start in the United States. . . . Rene Douglas, who failed to click the last time he rode in California, is back, this time under a full head of steam from Calder Race Course in Florida. With 69 wins, Douglas had a comfortable lead in the Calder standings when he left for Del Mar this week. . . . Apprentice Jose Valdivia Jr., who began riding Thursday, is a nephew of retired jockey Fernando Toro, who won 38 stakes at Del Mar from 1970 to 1988. . . . Kings Fiction, who went off at Saratoga at 9-1, was a half-length winner over the Wayne Lukas trainee, Lord Carson, in Thursday’s Screen King Stakes.