David Flores seeks reinstatement to ride in California

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey David Flores, suspended by Singapore officials for a year in March for failing to obtain the best possible placing in a race in that country in February, will seek reinstatement before Santa Anita stewards on April 23.

In a hearing on Thursday morning, Flores was denied a request to immediately resume riding by stewards Scott Chaney, Kim Sawyer and Tom Ward. The case was continued for a week at the request of Phil Laird, counsel for the California Horse Racing Board, who asked for additional time to study the case, Chaney said.

Flores, 47, was granted the right to resume exercising horses during training hours, effective Friday.

Flores was suspended from March 25 through March 24, 2016, for failing to “obtain the best possible placing” in a race on Feb. 22. 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 that he “failed with ride with sufficient vigour and determination” in the final quarter-mile.

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 on Thursday, asking the racing board to enforce the one-year disqualification.

Flores is represented by trainer Darrell Vienna, an attorney. The jockey’s case before the Santa Anita stewards hinges on a racing board rule regarding reciprocation of ruling in other “competent racing jurisdictions.” The rule states that suspensions in such jurisdictions should be upheld in California.

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