Rider tested positive for drug while riding in FranceMurphy faces six-month ban from saddle if guiltyOisin Murphy, the champion jockey, insisted on Thursday that he has “never taken cocaine in my life” after it emerged that he faces a six-month ban from the saddle for returning a positive test for the Class A drug while riding in
France on 19 July.
A statement issued via the Professional Jockeys’ Association on Thursday afternoon said that Murphy was informed of the positive result on 19 August, and subsequently organised hair sampling at an independent laboratory three days later. The process of collecting a hair sample was “filmed by the laboratory for authenticity” and analysed “multiple 0.3cm segments” of the rider’s hair and returned “completely negative for metabolites of cocaine”.