Patrick Husbands, an icon in his home country of Barbados and one of Canada’s greatest jockeys, confirmed March 24 that he will return to riding in 2022 at Woodbine. He is an eight-time Sovereign Award winner for Outstanding Jockey and a perennial finalist for the top Canadian award, an Avelino Gomez Award winner, and he is a member of the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame.
Husbands, 48, hinted that he was contemplating retirement in one of his last stakes-race interviews at the end of the 2021 Woodbine racing season, but in a candid chat on the popular new video-cast Hall & Headley: Horse Talk Show, Husbands said he is eager to get back to riding this season.
“I’m not ready to retire,” said Husbands from Barbados. “There is no one who loves horse racing as much as I do.”
Indeed, Husbands lives and breathes horses and racing, a lifelong student of the game since he was riding races in Barbados as a teenager.
He was just 16 when he won his first Barbados Gold Cup.
Since coming to Canada to ride, Husbands has won 3,508 races (that does not include Barbados wins) which puts him sixth on the all-time list of Canadian jockeys who rode the majority of their career in Canada. (Russell Baze, the all-time leading race-winning rider at 12,842, is Canadian but did not ride regularly in Canada).
Patrick is 123rd on the list of all-time leading race-winning jockeys.
On the Hall & Headley show, Patrick shared stories of growing up in Barbados, coming to Woodbine, and his many accomplishments and many injuries. He is as tough as nails, coming back from some serious accidents; as he said in the interview, his “left to right side is full of steel.” Patrick also noted that he is working on a book about his career.
Patrick is a finalist for Outstanding Jockey for 2021. Among his masterful wins was the stunning upset by British Royalty in the Breeders’ Stakes on soft turf, the third jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown.
Sean Hall, a graded stakes-winning Woodbine trainer and now owner and trainer in his home country of Barbados, started the Hall & Headley show earlier this year with Derek Headley, who is based in Toronto. The show has interviewed many top horsepeople including Hall of fame trainer Roger Attfield, handicapper Jim Bannon and jockey Rocco Bowen. You can watch the show most Thursdays.
Watch the Patrick Husbands interview:
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