David Flores reinstated to ride in California

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey David Flores was reinstated to resume riding by Santa Anita stewards on Thursday, reversing a March decision by stewards in Singapore to suspend the veteran rider for a year for failing to obtain the best possible placing in a race in that country in February.

In a one-page ruling, stewards Scott Chaney, Luis Jauregui, and Tom Ward ruled that Flores “is permitted to hold a license in the category of jockey.” Jauregui is primarily a safety steward but participated in this decision because of the absence of steward Kim Sawyer during the hearing.

Flores said Thursday that he plans to resume riding this month. He said his wife, Dawn, is expecting a baby in the coming days, and he plans to spend time at home with the family.

“I’m happy I can get back to riding,” Flores said on Thursday. “I was in tears when I had to go to the stewards. There was so much support on my side.”

In a six-page statement of decision that accompanied the ruling, the stewards ruled that the decision to suspend Flores for a year was “quite harsh.”

Flores was suspended from March 25 through March 24, 2016, for failing to “obtain the best possible placing” in a race Feb. 22, according to a statement released by the Malayan Racing Association. Flores rode Kiss Me and was cited for failing “to improve his position when it was reasonable and permissible to do so” from the three-eighths pole to the quarter pole, and failing “to ride with sufficient vigour and determination” in the final quarter-mile, according to Malayan Racing Association documents.

Kiss Me finished fourth, beaten three lengths, in a six-furlong turf race.

Officials with the Malayan Racing Association sent a letter to California Horse Racing Board officials in Sacramento in April asking the racing board to enforce the one-year disqualification. Flores appealed the decision to the Santa Anita stewards on April 16, requesting reinstatement, and was granted a license to exercise horses, pending a final ruling.

In the decision released Thursday, the stewards ruled that while boards of stewards frequently honor rulings from other jurisdictions, the “decision to disqualify Mr. Flores was based on a subjective interpretation of the best-efforts rule in Singapore which is substantially similar to the equivalent rule in California.”

In addition, the stewards described the one-year penalty as “draconian.”

Flores, 47, moved to Singapore at the end of 2013, having ridden at Fair Grounds and Santa Anita in the final months of that year. He was winless with five mounts here in late 2014 during a brief visit.

Flores won three races in Singapore this year and has 47 career wins there. He has won 3,538 races in North America.