WILLIAM CARSON will today face a disciplinary panel after testing positive for cocaine.
The jockey grandson of racing legend Willie Carson was charged at Lingfield earlier this year.
A BHA statement said the banned substance benzoylecgonine, a sub-strand of cocaine, was found in a urine sample taken on March 27.
Carson, whose biggest victories came in the 2008 Ayr Gold Cup and 2016 Autumn Stakes, has only had 18 rides so far this year and hasn’t been seen on a racecourse since April 1.
Despite the 30-year-old not having yet been found guilty, the BHA’s procedure is to suspend a rider’s license until the case can be put in front of a disciplinary panel.
If the judgement is cut and dried then Carson will face only a few more weeks out of action, with his suspension backdated to to the start of his interim ban.
The jockey’s positive test is the latest in a long line of drug offences from other weighing-room members, with Callum Rodriguez, Kevin Lundie and Peter Bryan all having been handed bans in recent months.
With other offences also recorded in Ireland, 2019 marks the most prolific apportioning of drug bans in history.
