That admittedly looks a bit suspicious (Pic: Coady Photography)
Jockey Roman Chapa has been suspended by Texas Horse Racing Commission stewards pending an investigation into his winning ride aboard Quiet Acceleration in a stakes race last Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park.
A photograph from the race, the $50,000 Richard King Stakes, taken by Coady Photography, the official track photographer, showed what appears to be an object in Chapa’s left hand.
The photograph and questions about it were brought to the stewards’ attention by The Paulick Report, said presiding steward David Rollinson. After meeting with the rider the morning of Jan. 19, the stewards took Chapa off his five mounts on the holiday card at Sam Houston.
“Some photographs materialized which the stewards looked at and based on what those photographs showed we chose to summarily suspend him pending an investigation,” Rollinson said.
According to Equibase.com, from eight mounts in 2015, Chapa has five wins, a second, and a third, and purse earnings of $129,800.
Chapa has been suspended twice previously for possessing an electrical device, which are prohibited in racing.
During his first year as a jockey, Chapa was suspended for 19 months in Texas for carrying such a device, according to the New York Times.
In 2007, he was suspended five years in New Mexico for possession of an electrical device and was reinstated on a probationary basis in May 2011 prior to completion of the suspension.
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