INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Jockey Patrick Valenzuela exercised five horses at Santa Anita on Wednesday and said he is ready to return to riding on Sunday at Hollywood Park.

Valenzuela said he exercised two horses for trainer Carla Gaines, and one for Juan Garcia, Mark Glatt, and Clifford Sise.

Valenzuela, who has not ridden since Jan. 19, received a stay from the California Horse Racing Board on April 16, allowing him to resuming riding while he appeals the termination of his conditional license by Santa Anita stewards on April 2.

Valenzuela, 41, had his conditional license voided for failing to submit to a mandatory drug test on Jan. 22.

CHRB chairman John Harris granted the stay. Had the board not granted the stay, Valenzuela was expected to go to Superior Court to ask for the right to resume riding.

Harris met with Valenzuela on April 13 and cited the jockey's recent treatment for depression as the main factor in granting the stay. During a hearing on March 28, Valenzuela argued before the stewards that he was fighting clinical depression.

When Valenzuela returns to riding, he will be subject to the same terms that were present in his conditional license, including reporting to the CHRB office each morning and a minimum of eight drug tests per month.

In addition, the board will require that Valenzuela undergo psychological counseling for depression.

"I felt great, like I hadn't been away," Valenzuela said Wednesday. "I'm really looking forward to being back on Sunday."

Sunday, Valenzuela has been booked to ride Makeup Artist in the $100,000 Wilshire Handicap.

Harris was on the backstretch at Hollywood Park on Wednesday. He defended his decision to grant the stay, saying the court would have done so if the board had not.

"I don't think a lot of people realize how it works," he said. "We probably saved the board $5,000 or $6,000 in not having to go to court, where we would have probably lost and we might not have the same control."

Despite criticism by rival jockeys and some horsemen, Harris said that he has received e-mails supporting his decision to grant the stay.

"It's probably about 50-50 with the ones that have talked to me," he said. "But the ones that are mad at me probably don't talk to me."