Baltas horses being transferred to a number of different trainers

ARCADIA, Calif. - Six Santa Anita-based trainers said on Saturday that horses previously trained by Richard Baltas have been transferred to their stables, or will be moved in coming days, the aftermath of a recent decision by track management to ban Baltas from working or entering horses after a horse in his care was euthanized and another was a late scratch for an alleged medication violation on the weekend of May 7-8.

Trainers Ruben Alvarado, Dan Blacker, Phil D’Amato, George Papaprodromou, Mike Puype, and John Sadler said on Saturday that former Baltas-trained runners are bound for their stables. The number is expected to rise. Trainer Librado Barocio will receive a former Baltas-trained runner, according to horse owner Nick Cosato.

Papaprodromou is expected to receive a majority of the approximately 30 horses Baltas had based at Santa Anita. Baltas also has a division at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in northern San Diego County.

Papaprodromou said that he plans to “sit down with” Baltas to discuss the transfer of the horses and their day-to-day needs.

Blacker said Flavius, who finished sixth in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 5, is joining his stable and that others could be sent later. Puype said Straight Up G, a two-time stakes winner at Los Alamitos and Sunland Park is now part of his barn.

Sadler said he will train Smuggler’s Run, who won the Echo Eddie Stakes for statebred 3-year-old sprinters on April 9. Going to Vegas, the winner of the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes and two other stakes, is now part of Phil D’Amato’s operation.

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Our Shining Light, a recent import from Ireland, will be trained by D’Amato, according to Cosato, the managing director of the Slam Dunk Racing syndicate. Cosato said that Brix, a gelding owned by Slam Dunk, will now be trained by Borocio.

Baltas was not permitted to enter horses on Saturday or Sunday. A horse he entered last weekend in a race on Friday was withdrawn on race morning.

Last Saturday, the Baltas-trained Speedcuber was pulled up in the stretch of a turf race with a sesamoid injury. Speedcuber was euthanized on Monday, according to the California Horse Racing Board’s website. Speedcuber was the first horse in Baltas’s care to sustain a fatal injury since November, and the third in the last year, according to racing board records.

On Sunday, the Baltas-trained Noble Reflection was withdrawn from the day’s 10th race earlier in the afternoon after officials became aware the gelding had been administered a substance within the preceding 24 hours, according to a source.

California trainers are under severe restrictions regarding medications and supplements that can be given a horse within 48 and 24 hours before a race.

The racing board is expected to launch an investigation into the matter surrounding Noble Reflection, but that process and a hearing that could lead to a potential sanction against Baltas is likely to take months.

Aidan Butler, the chief operating officer of the track’s parent company, 1/ST Racing, said in a brief conversation on Saturday that the track is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the withdrawal of Noble Reflection.

Baltas did not return phone calls or text message seeking comment in recent days.

Through Friday, Baltas, 60, was tied for fifth in the current standings at the winter-spring meeting with 24 wins. Baltas has had 164 runners since the season began on Dec. 26, the third-highest among trainers at the meeting.