Josh Adams
Colourful Australian jockey Josh Adams faced a fairly simple predicament — tell the stewards he had just provided a suspect urine sample, or his fellow riders would.
Adams was charged on Tuesday under AR81B, which dealt with an incident at the Kembla Grange races on August 2.
Stewards claimed Adams had used a liquid stashed inside a receptacle or a vial as a substitute for a urine sample.
Adams pleaded not guilty to the charge.
But a couple of fellow riders, including respected hoop Grant Buckley, revealed on Tuesday at the inquiry they had spotted Adams with what appeared to be a ‘’black vial’’ inside his pants.
Buckley confronted Adams on the day, who has had a history of drug problems, and with the potential threat he had just posed to his fellow riders on the track, took it upon himself to tell the stewards.
Buckley, one of the most liked riders in NSW, told stewards he had noticed a vial drop out of Adams’ silks as he got changed to have a shower. He then placed it on his seat and demanded answers.
“What’s this, Josh?’’ Buckley asked Adams.
Josh said many things, then he started to get emotional about it.
“I was annoyed. I wasn’t screaming, but I said, ‘what the hell are you doing?’
“He said to me, ‘give me a chance’, and I remember him saying that over and over.
“I said to him, ‘you tell them (the stewards), or I will’. I went and weighed out for the next race, and when I came back he was gone.’’
Buckley continued: “I said to him I wouldn’t let it go because it was about safety for myself and the other boys. We all want to go home (each day), and it’s hard enough out there.’’
Adams had already served time on the sidelines because of drug-related charges, and many in the industry believed his return to the Sydney ranks this year would be his final chance.
He said he had been drug-tested 30 times in his short career.
Asked if he had consumed any substances leading up the meeting, Adams said: “No, not at all.’’
Adams claimed the vial seen by some riders down the front of his pants was a “V energy shot’’, which he often consumed when forced to ride light.
When asked about Buckley and fellow rider Patrick Murphy’s version of events, stewards allowed his evidence to be heard in camera.
The Daily Telegraph first reported Adams’ Kembla drama on August 16. Tuesday’s matter lasted more than three hours before it was adjourned.
Adams, who went AWOL immediately after the Kembla episode, apparently appeared in decent spirits on Tuesday.
www.news.com.au
