Quarter Horse Jockey Being Probed for Possible Battery Possession

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California Horse Racing Board investigators are looking into allegations that a jockey at the recently concluded Fairplex Park meeting was carrying an illegal electrical device, known as a "battery" or a "buzzer", during the running of the second race on Saturday, Sept. 24.

According to CHRB public information officer Mike Marten, jockey Carlos Bautista is alleged to have been carrying the device aboard Robert Parra's Royal Medallion in the 400-yard Quarter Horse Champion Stakes. At odds of nearly 10-1, Royal Medallion finished third, beaten three-quarters of a length in the $20,350 stakes event.

"All I can say is that there's an allegation and an investigation," Marten said. "The chief investigator, Frank Moore, would only confirm that information pending his investigation."

Carlos Bautista currently ranks 16th in the Quarter Horse jockey standings at Los Alamitos through Sept. 24. The 37-year-old native of Mexico was the regular pilot for world champion Quarter Horse and 9-time grade I winner A Ransom, together capturing the prestigious Champion of Champions in 2000 and the Vessels Maturity three times. He was also the regular rider for 2004 champion aged stallion Buccaneer Beach and World Champion Paint Horse Real Easy Cash. His cousin is perennial leading Quarter Horse jockey, Alex Bautista.

Carlos Bautista could not be reached for comment. His agent, Neil Brick, said: "I don't know anything about that. I don't know what's going on over there."

The most notable recent case of an illegal electrical device being used in a race was in 1999, when stewards at Oaklawn Park determined jockey Billy Patin was in possession of one while aboard James Jackson's Valhol for a victory in that year's Arkansas Derby (gr. II). Valhol was disqualified and, though Jackson and trainer Dallas Keen were never implicated in connection with the battery allegations, the $300,000 purse was redistributed.

Patin was fined $2,500 and suspended for five years.

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