Mccarthy banned after being 1,000 times over the drugs limit
Adrian Mccarthy, a journeyman Flat jockey, yesterday received a six-month ban after being found to be 1,000 times over the threshold limit for metabolites of cocaine at Chelmsford last October.
The 42-year-old told a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel he had become bored in lockdown and was taking the drug three times a week. “Last year and the year before, I was really depressed. I am having counselling,” he said.
“I also tried taking my own life. I didn’t care about anything. I was using drugs – cocaine – and drinking to try to make things better, but they only make things worse. We all make mistakes, and I regret it, but we all have to look forward.”
Mccarthy’s urine test contained 150,300ng/ml of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine. The BHA threshold is 150ng/ml.
Mccarthy, who is riding out for new trainer Darryll Holland, had been stood down a week after the offence and yesterday’s ban was backdated to Oct 22.
At a separate hearing, promising apprentice Finley Marsh was also stood down for six months, backdated to November. He was on his way to Kempton when he found out the testers were at the racecourse and he cried off sick.
He told the inquiry he had panicked that he might test positive, having taken cocaine playing poker.
Regret: Adrian Mccarthy says he tried taking his own life as he was depressed
In 2014, there were no positive tests for cocaine in racing in Britain, but in 2019 there were six. Last year there were five, not including champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who tested positive in France. There have been three already this year.
Saliva testing, at the request of the Professional Jockeys Association, is being rolled out this spring.
In better news, Colin Dyer, chief executive of the charity Wellchild, in support of which the Cheltenham Festival was run, has written an open letter to racing thanking the sport and noting that £200,000 has already been raised as a result of the publicity the organisation received.