Jockey Pat Valenzuela Tests Positive for Drug Use at New Mexico Track

BALTIMORE — Pat Valenzuela, the leading California jockey whose career has been punctuated by unexplained absences from the track and reported drug use, tested positive for an unnamed chemical substance last week in New Mexico and was not allowed to ride in four races at the Downs at Albuquerque on Saturday.

Although this is the first time after hundreds of tests that Valenzuela has ever tested positive at a track, California officials have long suspected that the 25-year-old rider had a problem.