NEW YORK -- Patrick Valenzuela won't be riding Rock Hard Ten in Saturday's Belmont Stakes.

A Los Angeles judge denied Valenzuela's request to postpone his suspension by the California Horse Racing Board that prevents him from riding in North America. The suspension began Tuesday and runs until July 1.

Valenzuela was suspended earlier this year for failing to report for a required drug test at Santa Anita. "The best case would have been for him to ride in the Belmont and then start his suspension," said Don Calabria, Valenzuela's attorney. "There are no sour grapes here."

Calabria said the jockey "believed if he was on Rock Hard Ten, he had a good chance to beat Smarty Jones."

Corey Black, Valenzuela's agent, was at Belmont Park on Tuesday trying to line up rides for Valenzuela on Friday and Saturday in case Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavf allowed the jockey to ride.

"We're definitely disappointed," Black said. "When he comes back, everything will be behind him."

Entries for the Belmont Stakes will be taken Wednesday.

Alex Solis has picked up the mount on Rock Hard Ten, according to his agent, Scotty McClellan.

Valenzuela has ridden in the Belmont Stakes only once. In 1989, he and Sunday Silence finished second to Easy Goer after Sunday Silence beat Easy Goer in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Valenzuela hopes to ride Rock Hard Ten in the Breeders' Cup in October.