Jockey Herrera will sit for six days for whip violations
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Diego Herrera, who ranked fifth in the standings at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting through Sunday, will miss six days of racing later this month and in early June for whip violations incurred over the weekend.
Herrera, 18, was cited for using his whip more than the permitted six times on Pequena Tormenta, who finished third in the sixth race on Friday, and Zahra who finished second in the sixth race on Saturday.
Because the penalties were the fourth and fifth times Herrera was cited for using the whip more than six times in the last 60 days, he received three-day suspensions for each infraction. Herrera was fined $1,500 for the fifth violation on Zahra.
:: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.
The suspensions begins on Saturday and continue through June 5. Herrera will be allowed to ride graded stakes, but will not be allowed to ride the Ed Burke Million Futurity trials for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos on May 29.
Herrera can resume riding at Santa Anita on June 10. The meeting ends on June 19.
Herrera, who has a background in Quarter Horse racing, frequently rode daytime Thoroughbred programs at Del Mar and Santa Anita and the Quarter Horse and lower-level Thoroughbred evening races at Los Alamitos in the last year. Herrera said on Sunday morning that he plans to reduce his activity at Los Alamitos in the evenings with the exception of an occasional leading Quarter Horse race.
Jockeys in California are allowed to strike a horse six times in an underhanded motion and no more than twice in succession before pausing to give their mounts a chance to respond. The rules have been in place since October 2020.
Since the beginning of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26, jockeys have been fined a total of $29,150 and given 23 days of suspension for whip violations.
There have been 37 violations for using the whip more than six times in a race.
At the Santa Anita meeting, stewards have also issued two fines for $500 each for using the whip more than twice in succession without given a mount time to respond, two three-day suspensions for using the whip in an overhand motion, one $500 fine for using the whip in a post parade, three fines for $300 for using the whip during morning workouts, and two suspensions – for three days and five days – for using the whip in an excessive manner, or more than 10 times in a race.
Aside from Herrera, two other riders were cited for using the whip more than times in races on Saturday - Kyle Frey was fined $500 for his ride on Tenth Street Don, who finished second in the fourth race on Saturday, and Victor Espinoza was fined $750 for his ride on Bye Bye Bertie in the ninth race, the Mizdirection Stakes.