GOLDEN GLIMPSES #50 GOLDEN GLIMPSES #50 P. VAL. COULD BE BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Don't write off Patrick Valenzuela's riding career just yet.
The troubled jockey, due for arraignment Dec. 12 on two misdemeanor counts, could make still another comeback, if so inclined, according to one trainer.
"He'll be back," the conditioner predicted. "He's never tested positive (for drugs) while he's been riding. He plays it smart and they've never caught him. Either he takes off (if he is positive), or he's clean when he tests. And he'll have those misdemeanors reduced. What can they do, keep him from earning a living?"
"I haven't seen him since he was arrested that night (Oct. 31)," said his former agent and long-time friend, Jerry Ingordo. "I haven't seen him and I haven't talked to him.
"My wife talked to him. I don't know what he's doing now. He might be out (of the hospital). He was in for a week, then he came out and was supposed to be doing some rehab project."
Would Ingordo take his book again?
"Only for his children's sake, I might. He has four daughters. The tragedy is, he was finally getting it together. His weight was down, he was riding well.
"It's a shame for someone with such talent to waste it, when you think of riders like Paul Atkinson and Fernando Valenzuela (Patrick's cousin), who work so hard and keep their noses clean, yet still struggle to make it. And they're good riders, too.
"Patrick had all the opportunities and could have made a lot of money and gotten out of all his troubles. We were straightening out the money he owed the government. The money would have been all cleared by now."
Ingordo, meanwhile, could be back in action soon with a new face to the Southern California riding scene.
GOLDEN PICKS
MISS LADY BUG -- Cal-bred mare has never been better and should continue winning ways for trainer John Dolan.
NATURALLY THE BEST -- Improved with blinkers and ran game third despite wide trip early. Should handle $32,000 maidens at 1 1/16 miles.
OL' HENRY -- Low level claimer ran winning race in defeat, failed to see late-charging winner range up on the outside. Rates another chance.
QUEEN DOUNA -- French-bred filly was right in the hunt until deep stretch, should reach winners' circle soon going long on turf.
THE HOMESTRETCH: Bob Baffert came within a blink of not shipping Isitingood to Churchill Downs for the $250,000-added Clark Handicap, which he won under David Flores. "There were problems with the original flight, and they had to bring in another plane from San Francisco to Ontario at the last minute. We almost didn't go," said Baffert, who made the right decision to the tune of a winner's payoff of more than $150,000. Baffert hopes to keep Isitingood on an eastern campaign. "He loves the tracks with those deep cushions back there." . . . Chris Antley, who hasn't ridden for two months, may not return until Jan. 1. . . Trainer Bill Spawr is looking forward to the first foal of Sidney Craig's champion mare, Exchange. "She's in foal to Storm Cat," says Spawr, who developed Exchange into a stakes winner of more than $1 million after claiming her for $50,000. The foal is due in March at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky . . . Agent Rene San Miguel has taken the book of Paul Toscano, who gave Nick Cosato the pink slip. Cosato handles business for apprentice Royston Livingston Ffrench, who lit up the tote board with a $196.40 win payoff when he piloted Super Glide to victory. "The double F comes from my father's name," explained the miniature Harry Belafonte, "because my father is from Jamaica." Ffrench, who won 14 races in his native England, plans to stay in Southern California until February when he'll return to Newmarket to ride again for Luca Camani. The $196.40 win payoff was the largest at Hollywood Park since Nov. 11, 1994, when Martial Reward paid $176.20 . . . Racing folk and national TV commercials are as compatible as cats and vacuum cleaners, but Julie Krone is one of the very few to break the drought. Krone, who has been involved in her share of photo finishes, is plugging Ritz Cameras . . . Trainer Jude Feld had the last laugh on Wayne Lukas after Lukas chided him for wearing a stained-glass colored jacket. "You look like you just stepped out of church." Lukas said. An innocent bystander provided the perfect squelch: "How would you know, Wayne?"
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