Baltas fined after starter ruled ineligible

Trainer Richard Baltas has been fined $1,000 after one of his starters at Santa Anita on Jan. 21 was ruled ineligible to race after testing positive for the muscle relaxant methocarbamol in a workout on Jan. 3.

Lookin at Sweetie won a $20,000 claimer for maidens on Jan. 21, but should not have been allowed to start because of the positive test found after the workout. The test result was not conveyed to officials until after Lookin at Sweetie’s win, stewards said.

Purse monies earned by owners George and Martha Schwary, Baltas, and jockey Diego Herrera have been ordered forfeited.

The $24,020 purse of the race has been redistributed to the original second- through fifth-place finishers – Cayton Kid, Elana My Princess, Life in Paradise, Mongolian Dream, and Cat Lady Blues.

After the Jan. 21 race, Cayton Kid ran eighth, third and fourth in $20,000 claiming races for maidens. Cayton Kid was entered in a $20,000 claiming race for maidens on Sunday, but was ordered withdrawn since the 4-year-old filly is now recognized as the winner of the Jan. 21 race.

Cayton Kid raced for owner and trainer Jim Cassidy on Jan. 21, the day she was claimed by current trainer Gary Stute for a partnership.

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