Suspended for a year, Baltas plans Santa Anita return

Prominent trainer Richard Baltas is preparing to reopen a stable in California in coming weeks after completing a one-year suspension on Dec. 8 for widespread violations related to the administration of race-day supplements at Santa Anita in the spring of 2022.

Baltas said recently that he will have stalls at Santa Anita and San Luis Rey Downs with the intent of having starters at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting that begins Dec. 26.

“Before the year’s up, I could have a few runners,” Baltas said. “I have old clients that want me back.

“I’m grateful to come back. That’s all I’d like to say about that.”

In early May of 2022, backstretch surveillance cameras in the Santa Anita stable area caught one of Baltas’s employees administering an herbal supplement to one of the stable’s runners hours before the horse was scheduled to start.

California trainers are under severe restrictions regarding medications and supplements that can be administered to a horse within 48 and 24 hours of a race. A review of video surveillance from Baltas’s stable in April and May of that year led the California Horse Racing Board to file a complaint alleging that unpermitted substances were administered more than 20 times to horses in Baltas’s care on race days at Santa Anita during those months.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Baltas did not have any starters in California after early May of 2022 at the insistence of track and regulatory officials. Later that month, many of his runners were transferred to trainer George Papaprodromou and other trainers.

The California Horse Racing Board conducted four days of hearings in September and October of 2022 in the case before announcing the one-year suspension and a $10,000 fine last December.

Baltas said recently that he estimates he will start with 20 horses. He was one of the most active trainers on the circuit in terms of starters in the years prior to the suspension.

“It’s been a year and a half,” he said of his absence from day-to-day training. “I got to travel and refresh. I got to think about a lot of things.

“I do miss the horses. I’ve always worked with horses. I’ve never been away from horses this long.”

During his absence, Baltas was active at sales.

“I wasn’t totally away,” he said. “I bought a couple of 2-year-olds and we bought yearlings.”

Baltas, 62, has had one of the most successful stables in California in recent years. At the 2021-22 Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, Baltas ranked fifth in the trainer standings and had won five stakes before he was banned.

In his career, Baltas has won 722 races with runners who have earned more than $44 million. He has his best year in 2019, winning 91 races with runners who earned more than $7.34 million.

Baltas said he expects the stable to grow and regain its prominence in Southern California through 2024.

“It won’t happen overnight,” he said. “Maybe by this time next year, I’ll hopefully have a bunch of stakes horses.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.