cocaine exposure

The stewards at Charles Town Races on Wednesday issued a ruling that will not impose penalties against the licensure of trainer Curtis Bass after deeming that a "trace level" of a cocaine metabolite detected in a $5,000 claiming mare who won Apr. 10 was the result of "inadvertent exposure" to that drug. It's the second time in eight months that the Charles Town stewards have made that type of  determination on a cocaine positive, disqualifying the winning horse but not penalizing the trainer. Although West Virginia's Thoroughbred medication testing and...

Champion jockey Oisin Murphy, who has been serving a three-month suspension, returns to the saddle at Lingfield on Friday. The two-time champion jockey and retained rider for Qatar Racing was banned by France Galop stewards following a positive test this past summer for cocaine metabolites. Throughout the investigation, Murphy denied taking cocaine. A France Galop hearing accepted Murphy's hair sample results and his testimony regarding unintentional environmental contamination. His three mounts over the Lingfield polytrack on Friday are: Saeed Manana and trainer James Tate's Rain Gauge (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) in...