Leading Parx jockey Sanchez will serve 7-day suspension

Jockey Mychel Sanchez will serve a seven-day suspension and pay an additional $1,750 in fines after four separate riding crop violations at Parx over the last six months.

Under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rules, a jockey can use the crop up to six times in a race unless more are required for safety reasons. In four different races at Parx over the last six months, Sanchez used the crop seven times. The suspensions and fines were originally reported by Chelsea Hackbarth at Paulick Report.

According to HISA rulings, Sanchez used the crop seven times in four different wins at Parx: with Ferociousness in a claiming race Oct. 30, Namora in a claiming race Dec. 18, Harp's Hot Corner in an allowance Feb. 25 and Berks in a claiming race Feb. 25. All horses were trained by Jamie Ness.

A jockey is assessed with three penalty points for a Class 3 crop violation, meaning a rider has used the crop one to three times past the limit. Penalty points for Class 3 violations expire after six months, but if a jockey reaches between 11 and 15 points at one time, it triggers a seven-day suspension.

Sanchez will serve his suspension March 17-19, March 24-26 and March 31. He has also been assessed $1,750 in fines: $750 for the first incident on Feb. 25 and $1,000 for the second on the same date. He had already been assessed $250 and a one-day suspension for the Oct. 30 incident and $500 and a two-day suspension for the Dec. 18 one.

Sanchez currently leads all riders at Parx with 29 wins in 2025, 10 more than second-place Paco Lopez and 14 more than third-place Eleseo Ruiz.