Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
SANTA ANITA Baltas serving a 15-day ban
Richard Baltas, leading trainer at the interrupted Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, is serving a 15-day suspension for a medication violation and will not have any starters in his name until May 22.
Baltas said Sunday that some horses from his stable could run this weekend under the direction of an assistant.
Santa Anita officials are hoping to get permission to resume racing Friday for the first time since March 22. The track was ordered to cease racing on March 27 when deemed a nonessential business by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health because of the coronavirus outbreak.
In recent weeks, the track has proceeded with the intent to resume racing Friday. As of Sunday, Santa Anita had not received confirmation from county health officials that racing could restart. Entries for Friday are scheduled to be taken Tuesday.
Baltas was cited for a clenbuterol positive found in a post-race test taken from Velvet Queen, winner of an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option as the 4-5 favorite on Jan. 31 at Santa Anita. Clenbuterol, a bronchial dilator, is not allowed to appear in post-race tests.
“I take full responsibility for the mistake,” Baltas said Sunday.
Baltas said the medication was administered to the wrong horse and that Velvet Queen had a positive for clenbuterol in the range of “14 to 20 picograms.” At the start of this year, the California Horse Racing Board introduced a rule reducing the permissible level of clenbuterol from 140 picograms to zero picograms.
In a stipulated agreement with the California Horse Racing Board reached last month, Baltas was suspended 30 days, but 15 days of the penalty were stayed provided Baltas does not have a violation for medications listed in Classes 1, 2, or 3 during a probationary period. Clenbuterol is a Class 3 medication.
The 15-day suspension, which began May 3 and ends May 17, has forced Baltas to stay away from his stables at Santa Anita and San Luis Rey Downs. Baltas was fined $3,000.
Velvet Queen was disqualified from the Jan. 31 race, and the purse was redistributed to the second- through fifth-place finishers in the small field – Miss Stormy D, Road Rager, So Much Happy, and Meso.
When Baltas resumes training, he is planning to have runners in several leading stakes on Memorial Day weekend. Through March 22, Baltas, 59, had won 22 races at the Santa Anita meeting.
Desert Stone, winner of the Grade 2 San Gabriel Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on turf in January and ninth in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 7, is a candidate for the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf May 23 or the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf May 25.
“I’m not 100 percent sure where I’m going to run,” Baltas said.
The $300,000 Shoemaker Mile also is a target for two other Baltas-trained runners – Next Shares and Neptune’s Storm.
Next Shares, a multiple graded stakes winner, was third by a neck to River Boyne in the Kilroe Mile. Neptune’s Storm, a multiple stakes winner in races for 3-year-olds on turf last year, was third in the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile on turf Dec. 28 in his most recent start.
The winner of the Shoemaker Mile receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, provided the horse is nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program.
The race also is expected to draw War of Will, winner of the 2019 Preakness Stakes, and possibly River Boyne, winner of the Kilroe Mile.
Baltas said that Lady Prancealot is a contender for the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes, a $300,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf May 25. Lady Prancealot won the Grade 1 American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles on turf in December and was fourth in the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes at a mile on turf for fillies and mares Feb. 22.
Race plans have not been finalized for the outstanding 3-year-old filly Venetian Harbor, easy winner of the Grade 2 Las Virgenes Stakes at a mile by 9 1/4 lengths on Feb. 8 at Santa Anita. Venetian Harbor was second by 2 1/2 lengths to Swiss Skydiver at 9-10 in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes on May 1 at Oaklawn Park.
Baltas said the Grade 1 Acorn at a mile at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Test at seven furlongs at Saratoga are possibilities for Venetian Harbor. The New York Racing Association tracks have yet to release stakes schedules for those race meetings.
Venetian Harbor is still a candidate for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs. The race was scheduled for May 1, but was postponed to Labor Day weekend because of the coronavirus pandemic. Baltas said the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, a $200,000 race at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-old fillies on June 6, is not a likely spot for Venetian Harbor.
Venetian Harbor led by as many as 3 1/2 lengths early in the Fantasy Stakes at 1 1/16 miles before she was caught in the final furlong.
“We’ll give her a couple of weeks off and regroup,” Baltas said. “We’re probably going to wait.
“I think she went a little too quick the other day. I was proud of her effort. I was disappointed she didn’t win.”