Woodbine jocks suspended

Two Woodbine jockeys have received lengthy suspensions after an altercation in the jockeys’ room at that track, with the penalties imposed only when Woodbine is racing. Patrick Husbands was fined $5,000 and suspended 60 days while Constant Montpellier was fined $5,000 and suspended 150 days by the Ontario Racing Commission.

What's interesting is that the suspensions are scheduled to begin Monday, Nov. 20, and continue through the end of the Thoroughbred meet on Dec. 10, and then resume again when the track re-opens on March 31, 2007. Husbands’s suspension then runs through May 8, while Montpellier will be sidelined until Aug. 6.

Husbands, a four-time winner as Canada’s leading jockey, and Mohtpellier, at one time the country’s top apprentice jock, were penalized after the altercation that also spilled onto the racetrack. According to reports, Husbands used his helmet "as a weapon" in the incident in the jockeys' room before the fourth race, and then after the race it was alleged Montpellier tried to retaliate with his horse, endangering Husbands and two other jockeys.

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