Valenzuela’s Career in Jeopardy Again

Pat Valenzuela’s oft-interrupted riding career may be over after he tested positive Saturday for amphetamines and the stewards ordered him off his eight mounts at Santa Anita.

Valenzuela, whose agent had called the stewards shortly before the first post Friday to tell them that his rider had “personal problems,” had expected to ride Saturday before he tested positive. He had been working under a conditional one-year license since late last year, when he returned to racing after a two-year absence.

This is the fourth time Valenzuela has tested positive for drugs. In 1989, a cocaine positive led to a two-month suspension and cost him the mount on Sunday Silence, the eventual winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Earlier that year, Valenzuela had won the Kentucky Derby aboard Sunday Silence.

The three Santa Anita stewards have scheduled a formal hearing for Valenzuela at the track Wednesday. Neither Valenzuela nor his attorney, Donald Calabria, could be reached Saturday.

Valenzuela’s agent, Nick Cosato, said that he saw the jockey Saturday morning after the positive test had come through.

“I messed up,” Valenzuela said, according to Cosato. “I’m sorry.”

Cosato has quit as Valenzuela’s agent.

“I resigned Friday night, after he missed on Friday,” Cosato said. “I had had Pat’s book about six or seven years ago, for about four months, and I told myself at that time that if I ever worked for him again, he’d only get one chance. I had to be true to myself this time.”

Since returning to racing in September, Valenzuela, 37, had built up his business again, finishing second to Laffit Pincay in the Hollywood Park standings. On Dec. 4, he rode his 3,000th career winner and he’s currently tied for seventh at Santa Anita with 16 wins.

“Pat didn’t deny the positive,” steward Pete Pedersen said. “This is unusual for him, because in the past he’d disappear for a couple of weeks and then return with the alibis. This time he didn’t have much to say.”