Valenzuela ‘Excited’ About His Return

Pat Valenzuela, who is expected to get a cool reception from fellow jockeys when he resumes riding Sunday at Hollywood Park, said Friday night that he was up to the challenge.

“I’ve survived more in the past than this,” Valenzuela said in a telephone interview from California.

Valenzuela’s career, while marked by 3,545 winners, has been interrupted nine times by drug-related suspensions.

According to a spokesman for the Jockeys’ Guild, 30 riders at Hollywood Park are opposed to the way the California Horse Racing Board, through its chairman, John Harris, granted Valenzuela a stay of a suspension after he failed to appear for a mandatory drug test in January.

Valenzuela was first suspended indefinitely by the Santa Anita stewards, then ruled off the rest of the year.

He received a stay on April 16 from Harris, who is convinced that the jockey is suffering from acute depression.

“All I can do is pray for the gentlemen who don’t want me back,” said Valenzuela, who last rode on Jan. 19. “They’re entitled to their opinion. But I’m riding five horses Sunday, and I’m excited about the chance to get back.”

Valenzuela has been exercising horses at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita since Wednesday.

The guild submitted a letter to the racing board at its meeting on Thursday.

“We feel the [board] has failed in its responsibility of judicial control by permitting [Valenzuela] to return,” the letter said. “The conditions of his license have been continually violated, and yet the [board] sees fit to allow him the privilege of riding.

“In fact, the dangerousness of our sport demands that racing officials always err on the side of caution in order to ensure the safety of its participants.”