Racetrack operator Attractions Hippiques' request for a fourth extension of creditor protection has been delayed

a week, to March 16, in the expectation lawyers for the provincial horsemen's and breeders' association will file a written request for Superior Court Judge Chantal Corriveau to step down.

They indicated in court today they intended to do so because of Corriveau's revelation in a February conference call that her husband is an associate of a law firm representing the racetrack company's lenders, whose legal bills are being paid by Attractions Hippiques.

Lawyer Jean-Philippe Gervais said that was the first they'd heard of it, and there was no written record of it in the court documents.

Neil Stein, representing Attractions Hippiques, said it had actually been mentioned twice earlier in the proceedings, and appeared not to be a problem. There's also no evidence of any direct benefit to the judge's husband, Stein said.

Corriveau said she'll rule first on the request to recuse herself before proceeding with the request for another 30-day extension of the creditor protection first issued last June.

(A Trot Insider exclusive by Paul Delean)