Woodbine jockey enters guilty plea

Woodbine-based jockey David Clark has pleaded guilty to charges of impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm, according to a news release issued Thursday by the York Regional Police in Ontario.

Clark's appearance in a Newmarket, Ontario, courtroom on Wednesday stemmed from a May 16, 2006, accident in which a 34-year-old schoolteacher in another vehicle was fatally injured.

Clark had also faced charges of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm, and driving with an excessive amount of alcohol in his blood. Those counts were dropped.

Clark is scheduled to be back in court on June 27, at which time an agreed statement of facts will be read. Sentencing will follow at a later date.

Clark, 54, has been riding for 35 years and has more than 2,700 winners. His resume includes Queen's Plate wins with Fiddle Dancer Boy in 1981 and La Lorgnette in 1985. He was the Sovereign Award winner as Canada's outstanding jockey in 1998.

In the first eight cards of the current Woodbine meeting, Clark had won four races from 29 mounts.