Valenzuela Hearing Set

The California Horse Racing Board has scheduled a hearing on May 18 to consider the appeal of jockey Pat Valenzuela, who was suspended earlier this month by the Santa Anita stewards for violating the terms of his conditional license when he failed to appear for a drug test on Jan. 22.

Valenzuela was granted a stay April 17 by CHRB chairman John Harris. The jockey is named on five horses today at Hollywood Park.

The presence of Albert Fiss, the vice president of the Jockeys’ Guild, at Thursday’s CHRB monthly meeting seemed to spur the decision to have the hearing sooner than had been anticipated. Fiss presented a letter signed by 18 local jockeys protesting the stay.

For more than 10 years, the CHRB has been referring appeals to the Office of Administrative Hearings to be heard by an administrative law judge. After the hearing, the law judge makes his recommendation to the commissioners, who have the ultimate say.

An administrative law judge will preside over the May 18 hearing in front of the seven CHRB commissioners and a deputy attorney general will present the case for the stewards and CHRB investigators. If he chooses, Valenzuela can be represented by an attorney.