Decision Expected Today

Despite pleas from trainer Bob Baffert and others for a reprieve, jockey Pat Valenzuela is facing a stiff penalty from three Santa Anita stewards today when they rule on his recent positive drug test.

Valenzuela violated terms of his conditional riding license Saturday when his drug test showed he had used amphetamines. Under questioning from the stewards--Ingrid Fermin, Pete Pedersen and Tom Ward--during a hearing at the track Wednesday, Valenzuela said that he had used drugs Thursday night, the day before his agent asked the stewards to excuse him from his mounts because of “personal problems.”

Valenzuela, 37, has won more than 3,000 races, including six in the Breeders’ Cup and the 1989 Kentucky Derby with Sunday Silence, but his career has been riddled with drug and alcohol problems, off-the-track incidents and unexcused riding absences.

“We’ll make this decision with our heads and not with our hearts,” Pedersen said at the close of the hearing. Valenzuela hasn’t ridden since Thursday. He was taken off his mounts after Saturday’s positive drug test.

Referring to Valenzuela’s acknowledged dependency problems, Pedersen said:

“We share your feeling and we can be supportive, but our responsibility is what happens on the track and doesn’t have anything to do with the rest of the world. Race riding is a dangerous business, and our concern is to insure a safe environment for the jockeys inside those fences.”

Although Valenzuela had been out of racing for two years before returning last fall, Saturday’s drug test was his first since his comeback.

“We didn’t test him because his performance didn’t call for it,” said Bob Peters, an investigator who submitted the complaint against Valenzuela on behalf of the California Horse Racing Board.

Valenzuela has won 54 races since his return, 28 of those at Hollywood Park, where he finished second to Laffit Pincay at the meet that ended Dec. 20. He has won 16 races at the current Santa Anita meet.

“I worked my butt off to get where I was,” Valenzuela said. “I showed that I was a decent rider and rode out all my horses. I did more than what I was asked, because I wanted to stay sober. Nobody feels worse than I do about being here because of that stumbling block. I walk with the Lord and he never lets me down, but I’ve let everybody down.”

Baffert told the stewards that he was skeptical about Valenzuela making it back when he started riding at last year’s Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.

“But then he was almost the leading rider at Hollywood Park,” Baffert said. “He showed that besides being a great rider, he’s good for the sport, because the fans love him.

“I rode a little bit early on, and I know how tough the life is for these jockeys. They have to go through a lot, working awfully hard but not being able to eat much because they have to watch their weight. I know that’s a bad excuse [for Valenzuela’s relapse], but he was working hard. I think he needs a strong agent to baby-sit him.”

Valenzuela’s agent, Nick Cosato, dropped the jockey over the weekend. Over the years, Valenzuela has been represented by some of the best agents in the business.

Horse Racing Notes

Within 30 days, an administrative law judge will make a nonbinding recommendation to the California Horse Racing Board regarding the cases against trainers Darrell Vienna and Bruce Headley, who ran horses that tested positive for the bronchodilator clenbuterol in 1998. Testimony in the cases ended this week. Vienna’s horse, Closed Escrow, won the Soviet Problem Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Golden Gate Fields, and Headley’s Fascinate finished second in a race at Hollywood Park. . . . Captain Steve, who ran third in the Santa Catalina Stakes at Santa Anita on Jan. 30, came out of the race with a bruised foot. The training setback means that he will miss a prep race at the Fair Grounds and instead run there in the Louisiana Derby on March 12. . . . Bob Baffert, who trains Captain Steve, said that Chilukki, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, will also ship to the Fair Grounds for the Davona Dale Stakes on Feb. 19. . . . With Chilukki missing, Surfside may face only two rivals--Spain and Rings A Chime--in Saturday’s Las Virgenes Stakes at Santa Anita.