Trainer Palma provisionally suspended for methamphetamine positive
Veteran California trainer Hector Palma has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after one of his starters at Del Mar in late July tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the organization’s website.
The suspension was announced late last week and resulted in the scratch of Geezer from Sunday’s sixth race.
The positive was found in a post-race test taken from Baladi, the fourth-place finisher in a $32,000 claimer on July 30. Baladi, a 4-year-old gelding, has been suspended from racing by HIWU.
In a brief conversation Monday morning, Palma said that four employees at his stable recently tested positive for methamphetamine.
HIWU, which is part of the national Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, took control of regulations involving medication violations in many states in May.
Palma, 86, began training in 1971 and has amassed 1,243 wins. This year, Palma has won 10 races from 74 starters – five wins at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, four at the Los Alamitos summer meeting, and one at the current Del Mar summer meeting.
Palma was the leading training at the 1984 spring-summer meeting at Hollywood Park, the 1973 Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Fairplex Park, and six times at the Orange County Fair meeting at Los Alamitos from 1981-88.
Hernandez avoids suspension
Leading jockey Juan Hernandez avoided a potential suspension after meeting with track stewards Sunday regarding two races on Saturday in which his mounts were disqualified for causing interference.
Stewards Luis Jauregui, Kim Sawyer, and Rich Williams met with Hernandez to review his ride aboard Uncle Reg, who was disqualified from second and placed fifth for veering out in the stretch of Saturday’s seventh race, for maidens at five furlongs on turf.
The stewards “blamed” Uncle Reg for shifting out, according to Sawyer. The incident affected the second- through fourth-place finishes.
Sawyer said the stewards did not fault Hernandez for the actions of Mirahmadi, the 7-10 favorite who finished third in a maiden race at a mile earlier on the program. Mirahmadi ran erratically in the final furlong and was demoted to fourth for causing interference.
Through Sunday, the 22nd day of a 30-day meeting, Hernandez led all riders with 28 wins, five more than Antonio Fresu, who won 10 races from Thursday through Sunday. Hernandez won four races during the same span.
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