Jockey Nathan Evans gets six-month ban for taking cocaine… just hours after Oisin Murphy is also suspended over drug
JOCKEY Nathan Evans has been banned for six months after testing positive for cocaine.
His suspension comes just hours after champion jockey Oisin Murphy was also given a three-month ban following a positive test for the drug.
A disiplinary panel heard Evans, 23, had taken cocaine two days before a race meeting.
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He was tested ahead of the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Stakes at York on August 20 – a race in which he finished eighth.
Seven days later he was told his urine sample confirmed the presence of the Class A drug.
Evans said his act of ‘silliness’ came at a time when he was drinking ‘quite a lot’ because ‘things hadn’t been going my way’.
Rory Mac Neice, who represented Evans at the hearing, said: “Mr Evans accepts that he is in breach. He has made full admissions, he did so at the first opportunity.
“The background behind the commission of this offence is, I am afraid, all too familiar. It speaks to the pressures of riders, the isolation of riders, the fact that ultimately – almost uniquely – jockeys are engaged in a profession where they lose in nearly everything they do.
“Even the very best jockeys only win 20-25 per cent of the races they ride in.
“The vast majority of riders have a winning percentage in single digits. It is a tough way to earn a living. It is an isolating way to earn a living. It is not a team game.”
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Evans has been receiving support from the Professional Jockeys Association and working with Arsenal legend Tony Adams’ Sporting Chance clinic on his alcohol issues.
He has not ridden again since the positive test came to light.
The jockey, who has won more than £1.6million during his career, has had his ban backdated to the day he was first stood down.
Meanwhile, Murphy had his ban reduced after claiming a ‘sexual contact’ defence.
His suspension will take effect from December 11 and he will be unable to resume riding until March 11.
The leading rider, 25, has denied taking the Class A substance – but he says he will not appeal the decision of French racing ruling body France Galop.
SunSport revealed in October that Murphy had provided a positive sample when undergoing routine testing in France last summer.
He requested a ‘B sample’, the results of which were revealed today at a disciplinary hearing.
Jockeys who have previously tested positive for cocaine in France have been given six month bans.
According to the Racing Post, French stewards were persuaded by a combination of evidence from a hair test and Murphy’s own account that he was contaminated after having sex with a person he later discovered to be a user.
The two suspensions come on the back of an eight-week ban jockey Callum McKinnes was handed after an ‘absurd’ ride in which he was judged to have ‘danced about’ on a horse during a race.
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