Singapore officials suspend David Flores for one year

Jockey David Flores has been given a one-year suspension in Singapore for failing to “obtain the best possible placing” in a race Feb. 22, a decision that the rider has the option of appealing.

In a ruling issued Wednesday by Singapore racing officials, Flores was suspended until March 24, 2016, for his ride on Kiss Me. Flores was cited for failing “to improve his position when it was reasonable and permissible to do so” from the three-eighths pole to the quarter pole, and for failing “to ride with sufficient vigor and determination” in the final quarter-mile.

Kiss Me finished fourth, beaten three lengths, in a six-furlong turf race.

Flores was not available for comment.

Flores moved to Singapore at the end of 2013, having ridden at Fair Grounds and Santa Anita in the final months of that year. He was a visitor at Santa Anita at Christmastime last year, going winless in five mounts in the first three days of the winter-spring meeting. Flores said at the time that he did not have any immediate plans to return to full-time riding in the United States.

Flores, 47, has three wins this year in Singapore and 47 career wins there. He has won 3,538 races in North America and was a fixture in Southern California from the late 1980s until he rode primarily at Keeneland and Fair Grounds in the last months of 2013.