Jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who has not ridden since December 2016, pleaded guilty to domestic abuse in a San Diego county court on Tuesday and was given probation for three years and ordered to undergo domestic violence counseling, according to a report by a San Diego television station. Valenzuela was involved in an altercation with his girlfriend at a restaurant near Del Mar last month. Valenzuela struck his girlfriend in the incident, according to prosecutors. According to the report, the woman involved in the incident spoke in favor of Valenzuela at the court hearing, asking the judge not to issue a protective order to keep him away from her. Valenzuela was denied a jockey’s license by the California Horse Racing Board in the summer of 2016, but later rode in New Mexico and Louisiana that year. He has not ridden in California since early 2014. Valenzuela, who turned 56 on Wednesday, has won more than 4,370 races, including the 1989 Kentucky Derby on Sunday Silence. He has been an occasional visitor to the races in Southern California in recent months.