Masochistic preps for stakes in comeback sprint

Masochistic, the flashy winner of three consecutive races in 2014 and the runner-up in the Los Alamitos Mile last September, will start as the favorite in a second-level, $62,500 optional claimer at 6 1/2 furlongs Saturday.

Trainer A.C. Avila said his goal is to have Masochistic ready for the $500,000 Churchill Downs Stakes on Kentucky Derby Day, May 2. The 5-year-old Masochistic was diagnosed with a quarter crack last fall, which has healed, Avila said.

“Now, he’s 100 percent,” Avila said. “I’d like to get him fit and go for the Churchill Downs Stakes.”

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Masochistic was fifth in his debut in a maiden race for California-breds last March but was later disqualified from the purse money for testing positive for the tranquilizer acepromazine. A hearing on the matter was held at Del Mar last summer, focusing on the positive and the way that jockey Omar Berrio rode the gelding, Avila said.

Last spring, the stewards wrote in a weekly review of racing that they “were concerned that Mr. Berrio prevented his horse from giving his best race.”

Avila said last summer that Masochistic was given a double-dose of acepromazine three days before the race. Avila said on Thursday that an administrative law judge who conducted the hearing last summer suggested a penalty of a 30-day suspension and a $5,000 fine for the positive, but that his attorney said the California Horse Racing Board recently rejected that suggestion, seeking more information.

The racing board has not taken action against Berrio. Avila said last year that he told Berrio to rate the horse before asking for a stretch run, but that Masochistic was uncooperative in the running of the race.