Jockey Joel Rosario is scheduled to appear before stewards next month to answer a California Horse Racing Board complaint that he failed "to put forth his best effort" in a ride at Del Mar on Sept. 6.
Rosario, who was leading jockey at the recently-concluded Del Mar meet, rode Cedros, a 4-1 shot in a 10-horse maiden race at 1 1/16 miles on turf, to a fourth-place finish in the 11th and final race of the program. The 24-year-old native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is charged in the complaint with three violations of CHRB rules.
Originally scheduled Sept. 23 at Fairplex Park, the stewards hearing has been reset for for Oct. 2 at Santa Anita, according to CHRB spokesman Mike Marten.
Trainer John Glenney, who owns Cedros with his wife, Kim, said he was "terribly upset" about losing the winning purse in the $67,390 maiden special weight race, which followed the Pacific Classic (gr. I) at the end of the program. In a phone interview from Kentucky, he noted that he had instructed Rosario to keep Cedros on the outside.
"I felt the only way (Cedros) could get beat was if he got in trouble, so I told (Rosario) to keep him in the middle of the track and I didn't think they'd be able to catch him (in the stretch)," Glenney said. "He had him in great position on the outside on the turn and then the horse dropped back.
"I couldn't understand why that happened. Usually, if a horse flips a palate or something, he would continue to drop back. But when he made the stretch, Rosario angled him to the inside and he kept running. It appeared to me that (Cedros) wanted to win the race. So that is why I questioned the ride. It cost me about $40,000."
According to the Equibase official chart of the race, Cedros dueled on the outside for the lead for the first half-mile, then "fell back some leaving the second turn and angled in, continued along the rail in the stretch, and was edged for the show."
Glenney said he complained to Del Mar steward Ingrid Fermin after he received a phone call from Vic Stauffer, Rosario's agent, the following day inquiring about whether Cedros was for sale.
"I thought that was odd, so I called the stewards and laid out for (Fermin) what I had heard from Stauffer," he related.
Stauffer, who is not charged by the CHRB, declined comment until after he and the jockey meet with the stewards.
One of the rules Rosario is accused of violating pertains to unsatisfactory rides, stating in part, "No jockey shall take his horse back without reasonable cause ... or other wise ride in a manner which is inconsistent with using the best efforts of the horse he is riding,"
