Jockey Cohen suspended 60 days for whipping incident

Jockey David Cohen has been suspended 60 calendar days by the Oaklawn Park board of stewards after they ruled he deliberately used his whip on fellow rider Edgar Morales in the track’s eighth race April 6.

Cohen has appealed the ruling, his agent, Bill Castle, said Friday. The stewards said a date for a hearing before the Arkansas Racing Commission has to be set by the agency’s offices in Little Rock.

The stewards conducted a hearing April 11 in which Morales testified he was struck intentionally, according to the ruling. It also states evidence was presented by two jockeys and a valet that Morales had four welts on his right thigh due to the incident.

Cohen, according to the ruling, testified “that he would not deliberately hit another jockey with his riding crop and that if it happened, it was accidental.” Upon reviewing video of the race, Cohen communicated during the hearing, the ruling states, that the riders "were in very tight quarters, and he was hitting left-handed with very short, tight strokes.”

Cohen is the second-leading rider at Oaklawn. The suspension dates are April 27 through June 25, according to the ruling. Cohen is able to ride through the appeal process, the stewards said Friday. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the racing commission is May 4, closing day of the meet at Oaklawn.