|
呢個就大大獲
Stathi Katsidis 停賽9個月
Jockey Stathi Katsidis has been suspended for nine months and ordered to undergo drug rehabilitation following an inquiry into a positive drug test returned by the rider.
Katsidis landed in hot water with Queensland Racing Limited (QRL) stewards after a positive urine sample at Ipswich races on April 30 showed traces of the banned substance Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy.
Katsidis pleaded guilty to the charge at a stewards' inquiry and was suspended for nine months commencing from May 15, the day on which he was originally stood down from riding.
QRL chief steward Reid Sanders ordered Katsidis to undergo drug rehabilitation to a standard approved by QRL stewards.
Under the terms of Katsidis' suspension he will not be allowed to ride trackwork, but his penalty will be reduced to seven months suspension in full and he will be allowed to ride trackwork for the last month of the ban if he meets his rehabilitation obligations.
It is the third time Katsidis has offended in the past few years.
Katsidis' first positive test occurred in 2003 when he was in trouble for taking the banned appetite suppressant Duromine.
He again fell foul of Victorian stewards on Derby day last spring after testing positive to the same substance which jockeys used regularly until it was banned in 2003.
Katsidis is currently facing two charges of possessing dangerous drugs arising from the alleged discovery of ecstasy and steroids in his car when he was pulled over by police in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, on February 2.
He was breath-tested and found to be more than three times over the limit and was fined $1,000 and disqualified from driving for nine months, but no conviction was recorded.
The drugs case, in which Katsidis has pleaded not guilty, has been adjourned to a summary trial in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on July 21.
Meanwhile, Cranbourne trainer John Collins has won an appeal against a nine-month disqualification imposed by Queensland stewards.
Collins became the first Australian trainer charged with presenting a horse found to have the steroid-related drug hydroxyprogesterone caproate (HPC) in blood samples.
The Collins-trained Royal Flag, Devastating and Art Success all tested positive to HPC on Queensland tracks.
A $9,000 fine was doubled to $18,000, but Collins is free to continue training.
HPC was the substance which gained international attention when star Australian sprinter Takeover Target was refused a start in Hong Kong in December 2006.
Australian authorities did not test for HPC up to the Takeover Target incident but testing was widened last year to include the drug on the banned substances list, effective February 1 this year.
|
