Leading Quarter Horse owner Valeriano summarily suspended
Sam Valeriano, who leads the nation’s Quarter Horse owners in earnings, has been summarily suspended by the stewards at the Downs at Albuquerque for “conduct unbecoming and detrimental to the integrity of racing,” according to a ruling published on Thursday.
The ruling based the summary suspension on the findings of a recent United States Department of Agriculture report alleging that Valeriano was among several Quarter Horse owners and trainers who allowed or participated in the administration of illegal medications in recent years.
The USDA’s report was first reported by the Paulick Report in mid-July.
In Thursday’s ruling, Albuquerque stewards said Valeriano’s suspension is based on “conduct unbecoming and detrimental to the integrity of racing and is based on a USDA report received by the [New Mexico Racing Commission] on July 16, 2026.”
The ruling stated that Valeriano’s conduct “constitutes an immediate danger to the public health, safety, integrity, and welfare of the horse racing industry.”
Valeriano is banned from the Downs at Albuquerque, according to the ruling. A hearing on the summary suspension is scheduled for Aug. 6. One of Valeriano’s trainers, Raymond Valerio, and a groom, Manuel Garcia, were also summarily suspended by the Albuquerque stewards on Thursday, pending hearings on Aug. 6.
Garcia has been employed by several Quarter Horse trainers who have had horses test positive for the illegal medication carmoterol, according to a ruling published on Thursday.
Carmoterol, listed as a class 1 medication, is a bronchodilator not permitted to appear in post-race tests.
The medication was present in 12 horses that raced for trainers Heath Taylor and Toby Keeton at The Downs at Albuquerque in September 2024, including Hezgothelook Z, winner of the $3 million All American Futurity. Taylor and Keeton were summarily suspended by New Mexico racing officials in February 2025 for the infractions. The cases have not been adjudicated.
Juan Diaz, a prominent Texas-based Quarter Horse trainer, was summarily suspended by racing officials in that state in 2025 for carmoterol positives in 2024. At Los Alamitos Racecourse in California, numerous carmoterol positives were found in 2024 in runners trained by Monty Arrossa, who has since been banned from training by track management.
In the fall of 2024, several horses trained by Taylor and owned by Valeriano were euthanized after contracting equine infectious anemia (EIA).
The California Horse Racing Board reported at the time that 12 horses in Taylor’s care at Los Alamitos in October 2024 were euthanized as a result of EIA, including The Marksman V, the winner of that year’s $832,707 Ruidoso Derby and fourth-place finisher in the $1.4 million All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico. Valeriano owned The Marksman V.
Taylor had a division at Lone Star Park that fall that had horses euthanized because of EIA positives, notably Flash Bak, one of the nation’s leading older horses that year. Flash Bak won the 2023 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos for Valeriano and Taylor. The Champion of Champions is the leading Quarter Horse race in the nation for 3-year-olds and older horses.
According to the Paulick Report’s article, the USDA’s report alleged that backstretch employees used the same needles to inject horses with the illegal medication. The USDA concluded that using the same needles for injecting several horses led to an outbreak of EIA positives.
Thursday’s rulings come at a pivotal time of the Albuquerque meeting. Entries for time trials for the $3 million All American Futurity on Aug. 7-8 are scheduled to be taken on Friday. On Sunday, entries will be taken for time trials for the All American Derby and All American Oaks to be run on Aug. 9.
The finals of the All American Derby and All American Oaks are scheduled for Sept. 6, a day before the final of the All American Futurity, which is the richest purse of a Quarter Horse race.
Valeriano-trained runners were expected to be prominent in all of the races in the All American series. With the summary suspensions, they cannot be entered, barring last minute court action.
Thursday’s ruling states that horses owned by Valeriano, or owned in partnership on or before July 30, have been placed on a stewards list and cannot be entered, raced, or transferred or sold until the case has been adjudicated.
On July 11, Toby Sis, trained by Valerio for Valeriano, won the $534,426 Rainbow Oaks at Albuquerque. On the same day, Jarvis V and Hitman V, trained by Valerio for Valeriano, finished second and eighth in the $756,800 Rainbow Derby.
The following day, El Huracano V, yet another runner owned by Valeriano and trained by Valerio, won the $1 million Rainbow Futurity, a leading prep race for the All American Futurity.
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