Trainer Ed Dunlop has been punished by the British Horseracing Authority after one of his horses tested positive for cocaine after a race at Brighton.
Talented filly Lucidity tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine after finishing second at Brighton Racecourse in July 2023. The source of the substance remains unknown.
The BHA attaches no blame to Ed Dunlop – the son of British champion trainer John – but an independent disciplinary panel was required to impose a suspended disqualification to the trainer.
As a result the Gold Cup-winning trainer was handed a one-year disqualification from racing, a penalty which will be suspended and only enforced if he breaches the same rule within the next year.
Dunlop, a former assistant to British jump racing champion trainer Nicky Henderson, was also fined £1,000 while Lucidity was disqualified from last year’s race.
The filly went off as the 11/8 favourite and finished three-and-a-half length behind second-favourite Gallimimus.
This was the first time a horse trained by Dunlop had ever tested positive for cocaine. The 55-year-old has saddled nearly 11,000 runners since 1994.
At a disciplinary panel on Tuesday, Dunlop’s solicitor Rory Mac Neice said the case had triggered a crackdown on drug use at the yard and others associated with Newmarket Racecourse.
‘Since this positive test, Mr Dunlop has been voted chair of the Newmarket Trainers Group,’ he said.
‘One of the first steps he has taken in that role is to start an active discussion aimed at establishing the introduction in Newmarket of random testing of all those working in any capacity in racing stables at whatever level of seniority.
‘He invites the BHA to work with him in doing that. His reason for doing so is to promote a healthy and safe environment.
‘He is shortly to introduce that random testing into his own yard. He has drafted and is in the process of putting in place consent forms for staff so that those tests can be carried out.’
Mac Neice also criticised the outcome of the hearing and said the suspended disqualification was ‘clearly and obviously, utterly undeserved’.
‘The rules have got to enable appropriate and fair disposal of cases and it seems to me these rules don’t,’ he added.
‘What this means is that somebody who has been a rule-taker for 30 years, who has an impeccable record, who clearly adds to the industry, far from being a threat to it, has a sword of Damocles hanging over his head for 12 months.
‘What does that achieve? It is clearly and obviously, utterly undeserved. The rule needs an urgent revisit and, in the light of this case, any amendment should, I think, be applied retrospectively.’
Dunlop, meanwhile, told The Racing Post: ‘We are instigating, which I think is very important for the industry, random drug testing into my yard, which other yards are starting to do.
‘I have contacted the National Trainers Federation, suggesting we look into doing this across the industry because we know many other industries have it. We’ll shortly meet with all the staff.’
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