Valenzuela Treated for Depression, Not Drugs, Says Attorney

Patrick Valenzuela was discharged from a San Diego hospital Tuesday after being treated for depression, one of his attorneys said.

Sam Silverstein, one of two attorneys representing Valenzuela, made the disclosure the day before a second scheduled meeting with Hollywood Park stewards Pete Pedersen, Thomas Ward and David Samuel.

Silverstein, the father of jockey agent Rich Silverstein, said he will submit lab reports to the stewards on blood and urine taken from Valenzuela Nov. 7 that Silverstein said showed the jockey to be drug-free. Statments from Valenzuela’s doctors will also be presented this morning, the attorney said.

“The report from Coast Laboratory (in Orange County) showed there were no drugs involved,” Silverstein said. “The only thing that showed up was an over-the-counter drug for blood thinning that he had taken.

“He thought it was a diuretic and he took it in error. It made him really, really sick. It makes you lightheaded and causes ringing in the ears. If he had taken cocaine or any other narcotics they can show for up to 10 days later in the blood and urinalysis.”

Valenzuela, who was the leading rider at Hollywood Park’s spring-summer meeting and at Del Mar, saw a psychiatrist three times a day during his hospital stay in addition to participating in group therapy. He will continue to meet with his doctor.

“It was a build up of things,” Silverstein said. “He’s got a lot of pressures with his family, the breakup of his marriage and his compulsion to win.”

Valenzuela, 28, was suspended for 60 days late last year after testing positive for cocaine. An earlier positive test in New Mexico was overturned on a technicality.