Kentucky Derby winning jockey suspended for incident in Ohio

Winning the Kentucky Derby could be career-changing for Sonny Leon, but not right away.

Rich Strike's jockey is serving a suspension this week, his fifth since September.

Two days after riding an 80-1 shot to victory in America's most prestigious horse race, the 32-year-old Venezuelan began a four-day suspension for careless riding at a race last month in Ohio, a suspension that will prevent him from competing again until Friday.

Leon has won 71 of his 399 starts this year, but the Derby was the first graded stakes victory of his career.

According to regulatory rulings compiled by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, this latest penalty is Leon's third careless riding suspension in the past nine months. He has also been sanctioned for presenting false and altered documents from a physical examination to West Virginia stewards and for inflicting visible injuries on one of his mounts through misuse of the whip.

The five suspensions total 32 days Leon has or will be sidelined since Sept. 15.

Leon's latest suspension was imposed by stewards at Thistledown following an April 27 incident in which Leon's filly, One Glamorous Gal, was found to have interfered with Ultra Rays in a $28,000 allowance race, after the rider "deliberately and aggressively steered in towards the rail to block on-coming horses on the inside."

Leon's suspension was originally set at eight days but was reduced to four because he did not appeal. The specific dates were set so as not to disrupt his existing riding obligations.