Ban was hell ... I’ve never taken drugs in my life SAYS JOCKEY ROBBIE DOWNEY

ROBBIE DOWNEY admits to having “a point to prove” when racing resumes from next month.

For it is not Covid-19 that condemned the 23-year-old to inaction but a six-month drugs ban – one that has left Downey, who did everything in his power to clear his name, with a deepseated sense of injustice.

Co Kildare-born Downey, son of former jockey Cyril, rode out his apprentice’s claim in his homeland before a switch to ride for North Yorkshire-based David O’Meara last year.

Downey recalled: “Everything was going well until I went to France to ride Coeur D’amour for Madeleine Tylicki at Le LionD’Angers last summer.”

He thought nothing of taking a routine drug test for the local stewards last June – but wasn’t prepared for what lay ahead.

He said: “The result got sent back to Eddie Lynam’s yard. He sent the letter to me. I opened it and it notified me that I had failed a test – for cocaine.

“I couldn’t believe it. I have never taken drugs in my life.

“I have been getting up for work at 6am every day since I was 14 or 15, trying to make a career out of being a jockey.”

And so began an expensive and tortuous road to prove his innocence. Downey spent £1,500 on a hair sample test at a laboratory in Liverpool.

As he expected, it returned negative – “they could tell what had entered my system for the last six months” – but, advised that French racing authority

France Galop would not accept a finding from Britain, he flew to repeat the procedure in Paris.

Despite two negative findings, Downey’s appeal against his ban was rejected. In January – to the rider’s dismay – the punishment was reciprocated by the British Horseracing Authority after an 11th-hour change of heart in High Holborn.

“A reputation ruined,” he said. “Even though I had proved I had never taken drugs, you have the label as a drug user.

“I knew there was no second appeal once the BHA had banged the hammer down.

“That was the worst thing. A lot of people just look at the headline and think, ‘Another jockey done for cocaine’.”

But one man prepared to look to the small print was Dermot Weld. After an inquiry from agent, Kevin O’Ryan, Downey began work for the Irish training legend in January.

“I think Mr Weld knew what had happened to me was very, very wrong,” said Downey, this week cleared to ride by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.

“It’s great to have the backing of people in racing like that – it’s one of the best stables to be attached to.”

Openings will arrive in the weeks and months that follow Irish racing’s return on June 8 as Downey seeks to rebuild.

He said: “Hopefully I can make the best of any opportunity I’m given. It was a miscarriage of justice – I’ve never taken drugs – and I can’t wait to get back.”