Eddie Joe Zambrana

Gabriel Maldonado, currently North America's winningest apprentice jockey with 86 victories, was suspended effective immediately at Delaware Park June 27 after a random drug test by that state's racing commission came back positive and the 25-year-old rookie allegedly admitted to using a prescribed opioid. Maldonado, 25, had ridden in seven races at Delaware on Wednesday, but was removed from six mounts there Thursday in the wake of the indefinite suspension and a $250 fine being issued that morning by the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission (DTRC). The ruling stated that after...

Approaching the start of the sixth week of the season at Delaware Park, a pair of apprentices--one a five-pound bugboy and the other still with his seven-pound allowance--are riding high atop the jockey standings. Through Saturday's racing, the Delaware win totals by Gabriel Maldonado (25) and Ederik Robles (18) matched the rookies' ages. Maldonado just finished a blast-off week that saw him winning nine races in a four-day span at three different tracks. On Wednesday, the five-pound apprentice tallied with the last of six afternoon mounts at Delaware, then traveled...