Hollie Doyle has been given a one-month ban – suspended for a year – after testing positive for a prohibited substance at Newcastle at the end of March.
The Telegraph reports that the Flat jockey was prescribed dihydrocodeine (DHC) after sustaining an elbow injury in a fall at Wolverhampton in January, but stopped taking it shortly afterwards because it made her feel unwell, yet she tested positive for the substance on her return to riding.
Hollie Doyle – relieved the case is finalised
An independent panel of the British Horseracing Authority said it accepted the consumption of DHC was unintended. The 26-year-old took what she believed was an over-the-counter Japanese equivalent of ibuprofen, which she picked up when riding in Japan last year.
Doyle took tablets marketed as Pabron Ace Pro to control some swelling and had tried to check the Japanese product’s ingredients through image recognition technology via Google Lens.
The entry-level ban for this sort of breach is usually two months. Although the panel said she had not taken all reasonable steps to ensure no banned substance entered her body by relying on a translation app, it took the view the breach was worth no more than a one-month ban, suspended for a year.
Relieved the cloud was finally lifted, Doyle yesterday wrote in a blog for her sponsors that she was “extremely grateful to my family, friends and employers for their support and advice over the last five months. We’re all very glad it’s over”.
She added: “The BHA accepts the breach was entirely innocent and unintended but due to it being a strict liability case they found it appropriate to impose a one-month suspended suspension.”
Doyle has ridden 107 domestic winners this season and landed the Group One Prix du Cadran on Trueshan at Longchamp recently.
- www.thetelegraph.co.uk
