by Melissa Keith

On the surface, 2024 was Ste-Sophie, QC horseman Jimmy Gagnon’s best season as a driver. He won 97 of 803 drives, the last of the season with pacer Dr Joe at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Dec. 30. His UDRS of .244 and seasonal purse earnings of $504,000 (U.S.) suggested the 29-year-old was on the brink of a career breakthrough. In early 2025, Gagnon had three wins from 67 starts, most recently Feb. 1 with pacer Choreographer and trotter Fashion Contender at Flamboro Downs. He went winless there Feb. 2, then received news that he would not be driving anywhere for the foreseeable future: On Feb 3, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) announced Gagnon’s suspension from Feb. 5, 2025 until Aug. 5, 2026, plus a $2,500 (Can.) fine.

The penalties were unrelated to Gagnon’s driving. They were imposed for his alleged ongoing communication with suspended owner/trainer/driver Carol Voyer of Lac Kenomagi, QC, for whom Gagnon was, allegedly, covertly training horses while concealing the arrangement from racing officials. The pacing mare Butterfly Kisses was retroactively disqualified from nine starts at Woodbine Mohawk Park (March 1-May 3, 2024), where she was a three-time winner for listed trainer Gagnon. Trotting mare Laa Dee Gaa was also DQed from seven March 13-May 7, 2024 starts at Flamboro Downs and The Raceway at Western Fair. She won her debut for Gagnon at the latter track. He was ordered to repay all purses won by the mares, within 15 days of the AGCO decision announced on Feb. 3, 2025. Both mares had formerly been campaigned by Carol Voyer, competing at various Ontario tracks in 2023.

When Gagnon was racing Laa Dee Gaa and Butterfly Kisses, Voyer was serving a three-year suspension (from July 19, 2023 until July 18, 2026) and had been fined $11,000 for the suspicious death of Cams Lucky Sam (p, 3, 1:50.3s; $129,764). The gelding last raced for Voyer at Flamboro Downs on Oct. 12, 2022, and was scratched sick Oct. 23, 2022. Cams Lucky Sam’s registration was converted to Pleasure Horse Registration (no racing, no breeding) as of Nov. 19, 2021, yet the then-8-year-old gelding continued racing. Voyer was penalized for subjecting the unlucky pacer to what the AGCO ruled was “an act of neglect,” misleading investigators about Cams Lucky Sam’s whereabouts and eventual death, and ultimately “engaging in conduct not in the best interest of racing,” according to the July 13, 2023 decision.

On Feb. 3, 2025, the AGCO announced that investigators found that Voyer had been directing Gagnon about training and racing Laa Dee Gaa (5, 1:57.1f; $84,474) and Butterfly Kisses (p, 5, 1:54f; $88,369) while under suspension. Voyer officially owned Laa Dee Gaa from March 3, 2023 until July 17, 2023, and Butterfly Kisses from July 30, 2022 until July 17, 2023. Banned from racetrack properties beyond the grandstand, Voyer sought out Gagnon so he could continue to race horses while suspended. Voyer is now suspended a further 18 months, meaning he cannot participate in racing from July 19, 2026 until Jan. 19, 2028.

At publication deadline (April 9), both Gagnon and Voyer were awaiting Ontario Horse Racing Appeal Panel (HRAP) hearings, with dates to be announced. Gagnon is appealing charges of “misconduct detrimental to the best interest of racing” while Voyer is appealing “participation in racing while currently suspended.”

Prior to his involvement with Voyer, Gagnon was mainly known as a successful catch driver for a variety of trainers. His Feb. 5 request for a stay was denied by the HRAP in a March 28 decision. HRAP chair Stanley Sadinsky ruled that protecting the public interest and the best interest of racing outweighed the reputational, emotional, and financial damages reported by Gagnon during his March 13 stay hearing.

“This case has been described as a hidden trainer case,” Sadinsky said. “It is a situation where an actual licensee, in this case Mr. Gagnon, is alleged to be handling certain horses and taking instructions and assistance from a suspended trainer, in this case Mr. Voyer, who formerly trained the horses in question. In my view, this is a very serious case because it involves a conspiracy, or an alleged conspiracy, between two persons who not only are violating the rules of racing but also are ignoring a decision of the registrar suspending one of the parties.”

Eight years into his driving career, Gagnon is not permitted at racetracks, apart from the grandstand, and cannot race any horses he owns, pending the outcome of his upcoming appeal hearing. His first drives at Mohawk were in Jan. 2023 qualifiers; Gagnon finished sixth with $7,000 claimer Independence Time in his pari-mutuel driving debut there on Jan. 26, 2023. Gagnon’s first Mohawk win came on Oct. 26, 2024 with conditioned pacer Bayfield Beach. He won three of 24 Mohawk catch drives in Dec. 2024, when the former Hippodrome 3R/Rideau Carleton Raceway regular appeared to be on the rise at Canada’s top harness racing venue.