JC / Railbird

Déjà Valenzuela?

Pat Valenzuela and the CHRB, July 2010:

The path to a conditional license in California was opened to Valenzuela, 47, under the terms of a stipulated agreement approved by board members that will require him to submit to hair follicle testing, according to the CHRB.

Pat Valenzuela and the CHRB, July 2004:

Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who was suspended for the month of June for failing to submit to a drug test in January, was suspended again by the Hollywood Park board of stewards on Friday for failing to comply with a term of his conditional license that requires he submit to a hair follicle test.

“They never asked me to grow hair,” said the rider. “It’s not my fault.”

I wish Valenzuela well. He’s been riding in Louisiana for two years without trouble, and maybe, as Pat Day tells Jay Hovdey, “this time it will be different.” But I also hope that the CHRB is asking him to grow hair this time around.


1 Comment

Only in racing does everyone sympathize with a many-multiple offender like PVal but goes out of its way to villainize Pletcher when one of his horses tests a picogram over the limit of a legal medication.

Posted by EJXD2 on July 23, 2010 @ 10:06 am