Pat Valenzuela Eyes Return to Racing at Turf Paradise After Nine Years

Pat Valenzuela posted a video selfie on his Facebook page showing an Arizona Department of Gaming jockey's license, and just like that, the sport was paying attention again. At 63, the winner of two U.S. classics and seven Breeders' Cup races said he expected to be named on mounts for the Monday card at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, a return that would end a racing absence of more than nine years.

"By the grace of the good Lord, we got some help out here in Arizona, and we're doing our best trying to get on that saddle," Valenzuela said in a phone interview from Arizona. "It's a privilege to be a jockey again."

The path back, however, carried an explicit condition. Arizona Racing Commission chief steward Jason Hart told the Paulick Report that the license is conditional and that Valenzuela must pass drug tests when asked. Turf Paradise general manager Tom Ludt, reached by text, offered measured language: "I have heard the same but haven't heard from the state or stewards to confirm." Hart had not responded to a separate request for comment.

Overnight entries for the card were set to be taken Monday, one week in advance of the meeting that would feature Valenzuela's return, assuming all the pieces fell into place.

Valenzuela credited his family, agent Frank Ortiz, and Colorado steward Floyd Campbell for helping navigate the comeback. On the riding side, he said he expected bookings from "a lot of old friends that I have from growing up in New Mexico" and others he has accumulated through the years, including Robertino Diodoro, the leading trainer at Turf Paradise this season.

"I just feel like I'm in a really good spot right now, and I'm just going to take it one day at a time and just thank the good Lord every day that I get on a horse," Valenzuela said.

The backstory is long and complicated, and anyone who followed racing in the 1990s and 2000s knows exactly why. Valenzuela was suspended by racing authorities eight times during the 1990s, and a 2000 suspension kept him off horses for 22 months. A DUI conviction brought a fine of $1,595 and three years of probation after a May 6 plea in San Bernardino County Superior Court, and California racing authorities denied his license on multiple subsequent occasions. Despite it all, he won top jockey honors at Santa Anita during the 2004-2005 season and rode Wild Desert to victory for trainer Robert Frankel in the 2005 Queen's Plate.

He announced his retirement December 9, 2011, at age 49 after a 33-year career, citing emergency gallbladder surgery, weight problems, and knee injuries. He attempted a comeback as recently as April 2012, when agent Tom Knust announced he would rejoin the jockey colony at Hollywood Park on April 26 of that year. That version of the comeback yielded a legitimate result: Valenzuela won the $250,000 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park aboard Acclamation, who was undefeated in 2012.

What followed after that is what makes the current attempt notable for its duration of absence. More than nine years off a horse is a long time for anyone; at 63, with eight grandchildren he wants watching from the rail, Valenzuela is not pretending this is anything other than what it is.

"I just feel like I'm in a really good spot right now," he said.

Whether the overnight entries confirmed him on horses and whether the drug-testing condition was satisfied were the two factual questions still hanging in the air. The license was shown. The intent was declared. The rest depended on Arizona.