Louisiana Clears Up Foggy Problem by Banning Jockey

Jockey Sylvester Carmouche was banned from racing in Louisiana for 10 years Wednesday for allegedly taking a fog-shrouded shortcut to the winner’s circle at Delta Downs aboard a 23-1 longshot named Landing Officer.

“As my mother use to say, ‘I don’t know how you spilled the milk, I just know you spilled it,’ ” State Racing Commission member Jeffrey Kallenberg said in a motion to suspend Carmouche.

Carmouche is accused of dropping out of a Jan. 11 race near the starting gate, hiding out in thick fog and rejoining the mile-long race well ahead of the pack after the other horses were near the finish.

Witnesses said Landing Officer finished too fast, 1 2/5 seconds off the track record for a mile, and too far ahead, 24 lengths, to have won the race legitimately.

The vote to suspend Carmouche was 7-1.

“It ain’t right,” said Carmouche, who insisted he completed the race. But commissioners who questioned him at a hearing Wednesday noted several inconsistencies in his testimony.

At one point, Carmouche said the fog was so thick that he never noticed any other horses. He later testified that at one point he knew he was in fifth place.

Commission chairman Harold Thomas noted that the panel received testimony in February from two jockeys who said no horse passed them during the race.

“They never noticed me,” Carmouche replied.