Positive dope test for novice steeplechaser
Henrietta Knight’s Hachty Boy tested positive for a banned substance at Weatherby on Tuesday
A baffling doping case has hit racing. Steeplechaser Hachty Boy, from the stable of Cheltenham Gold Cup winning trainer Henrietta Knight [pictured], was found to have traces of the ‘stopping’ drug ACP in his system after winning easily at Wetherby.
Hachty Boy tested positive for acetylpromazine, the banned substance which has been at the center of several doping scandals, after running away with the Schering-Plough Animal Health Novices Chase on 23 May.
The Jockey Club security department is awaiting the results of further tests ona sample being carried out in Hong Kong, and has already launched its own investigation.
Henrietta, who won this year’s Gold Cup with Best Mate, is very particular about security at her stables near Wantage in Oxfordshire.
She told the Racing Post: “If the second (Hong Kong) sample comes up positive, he must be the first horse to win after being given a stopping drug.
“Hachty Boy is a very nervous horse; nervous of needles and suspicious of strangers, particularly men. So whether he didn’t get the full amount, I don’t know.”
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ACP needs to be administered close to the race and Jockey Club investigators will visit Wetherby racecourse and interview staff who had access to the secure stables area.
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