by Myra Lewyn

Louisiana-based jockey Joe Patin Jr., whose career has been compromised several times during the last two decades by substance abuse, was arrested on March 1 in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, on 11 charges, including possession of crack cocaine, stemming from two traffic accidents that night.

Major Ginny Higgins, a spokesperson for the St. Martin Parish sheriff’s office, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that Patin left the scene after his vehicle struck a car. Patin’s vehicle then crashed into a local business.

Sheriff’s deputies found the crack cocaine in Patin’s vehicle when they responded to the second accident.

Patin’s charges include possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and a pharmaceutical known as zolpidem (a generic equivalent for the sleeping pill Ambien), hit and run involving a car, reckless operation of a vehicle, and driving without proof of insurance.

Patin spent several years out of racing when his jockey license was revoked in 1999 after he refused to submit to a drug test at Louisiana Downs. The Louisiana Racing Commission reinstated his jockey license last spring with several conditions in place, including mandatory drug testing, which he had fulfilled, commission Executive Director Charles Gardiner said.

Tony Martin, who represented Patin at the current Fair Grounds meeting, said he had not spoken with Patin in three weeks.

“He stopped showing up for work and riding horses,” Martin said of the troubled rider, who last rode at the New Orleans track on February 21. “Two weeks ago, he changed his phone number and hadn’t been answering my calls.”

Since regaining his license, Patin has guided 84 winners from 717 mounts. Patin rode All Wired Up to a victory in the 2008 Premier Night Sprint Stakes at Delta Downs, the most lucrative win of the rider’s career. Since beginning his career in 1986, Patin has ridden 522 winners from 5,977 mounts.

Myra Lewyn is Thoroughbred Times daily news editor