Hovdey: Flores finds justice doesn’t always translate

There is a presumption among the more aggressive promoters of American racing that international competition is a good thing that should be encouraged without question. That the pitchmen from foreign racing interests should be welcomed with open arms to hawk their wears. That America’s racing stars, both human and equine, should be fair game for plunder, as long as the price is right.

There have been any number of happy endings to such adventures. Wesley Ward seems to write history every time he shows up at Royal Ascot. A host of American runners have won serious money in Dubai. Americans used to win the Japan Cup, though no more, while Hong Kong and Singapore have lured American runners with a mixture of success and noble failures.

American-based jockeys also succumb to the lure of international riches. Gary Stevens, Corey Nakatani, and Kent Desormeaux have trotted the globe with good results, just as second-tier jockeys can find quick money in Saudi Arabia riding for the royals.

Then again, there is a dark side to the rolling of such international dice. The variables are great and sometimes unpredictable. In 1996, the late Mike Mitchell lost the good sprinter Comininalittlehot to pneumonia on a trip to Hong Kong, then in 2005, Mitchell’s fine turf runner Star Over the Bay suffered a fatal injury in Singapore. Big Jag, traveling to Dubai in defense of his Golden Shaheen title, broke down training there and was subsequently euthanized. In 1982, John Henry survived a severe colic attack in Japan, while Lava Man – the freshly minted Hall of Famer – burned his heels bloody in 2005 while running on Japanese dirt.

The equation of risk and reward hangs over all such situations. Such was the decision made by veteran journeyman and three-time Breeders’ Cup winner David Flores to try his hand riding in Singapore, beginning in late 2013. Flores received no starry promises. There was no guaranteed contract. There was only the opportunity to ride for good, not great, purses and enjoy the exotic attractions of a faraway land with his family along for the ride.

Now, welcome to his nightmare.

On Thursday at Santa Anita Park, Flores, 47, was scheduled for a hearing before the board of stewards to determine his “fitness” to continue riding in California despite the fact that in March he was issued a one-year suspension by the Malaysian Racing Association for supposedly failing to obtain the best possible placing with a horse he rode in a race at the Singapore Turf Club last February.

One year.

Last fall, Flores returned to Southern California for a visit while serving a routine riding suspension of a few days.

“The system there is different,” he said of Singapore. “The rules are more strict in the races. You have to be a lot more clear. I just got suspended over there for something I don’t think I would have been suspended for over here.

“But I respect that,” Flores said. “The riders there all come from different styles – Australia, England, France, Hong Kong. Unless you are very strict with one set of local rules, it can be a problem.”

The next time Flores was spotted in Southern California was on Santa Anita Handicap Day in early March. He was asked how things were going in Singapore, and he did not smile.

“They’re having a hearing about a race I was in,” Flores said. “It does not look good.”

It wasn’t, but in one sense, that is the price a U.S. citizen must pay for playing another country’s game. The punitive nature of the Singapore justice system – canings for misdemeanors, fines for unflushed toilets, a ban on gum – clearly spills over into the penalties imposed for alleged riding violations. Then again, to watch the race for which Flores is being so severely penalized is to wander into a land of subjective conclusions and mind reading where no sensible American steward would ever dare venture.

Darrell Vienna, an attorney and trainer, is representing Flores in an attempt to convince the Santa Anita stewards that their Singapore counterparts were incorrect in their characterization of the jockey’s performance in that Feb. 22 event. Vienna has assembled video of the race, the record of the horse Flores rode (1 for 26 lifetime), and a few facts that are just disturbing enough to wonder if Flores got a fair shake. For instance:

The horse he rode broke inward at the start before settling into midpack for the early running of the 1,200 meters. The track announcer, for some reason, made the observation that the Flores horse “...is not going to the lead. He is being restrained.” He had never been on the lead in his life.

According to Vienna, the Singapore stewards supposedly gave Flores a warning for what they saw as a similarly suspicious ride last June, despite the fact that the horse he rode that day pulled up sore, according to stewards’ records. In what has to be straight out of Kafka’s rules of racing, Flores was still admonished to ride without raising “query,” even if the horse was going like a rusty rocking chair.

American stewards have a certain obligation to take seriously the rulings of foreign jurisdictions. They also should take upon themselves the responsibility of fair play and proportionate penalties. If the fitness of Flores to compete in California is determined by what they see in the video, then he should be riding again soon. Then again, with stewards, you never know.