Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ghiani rocked by ban
MARCO GHIANI apologised for “a big, stupid mistake” after the 2021 champion apprentice yesterday received a six-month cocaine ban.
The 23-year-old jockey tested positive for benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of the class A drug, at Newcastle on August 25.
Having accepted a British Horseracing Authority charge before an independent disciplinary panel, Sardinian-born Ghiani was suspended for six months, back-dated to September 5.
“It was a big, stupid mistake. I was really stupid and I’m really embarrassed about it,” said Ghiani, who admitted taking cocaine while on holiday in Italy in July and in England the following month.
“But I’m looking forward to starting fresh again. I can’t feel sorry for myself, because it was something I did.
“I rode lots of winners but I concentrated more on the losers. You lose a bit of confidence.
“You ride a few favourites, they don’t come anywhere and the trainer and owner get frustrated. I did, too.”
Ghiani, who partnered the Saeed bin Suroortrained Real World to victory in the Royal Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in June 2021 — he rode 64 winners this year — added: “It definitely won’t happen again.”
John Gosden (above) was fined £3,000 after two fillies from his Clarehaven Stables who ran in the closing weeks of the 2020 season tested positive for a banned therapeutic drug.