Jockey Ray Dawson banned after snorting ‘eight or nine lines’ of cocaine the night before riding

Jockey Ray Dawson has been banned for six months after admitting to snorting ‘eight or nine’ lines of cocaine in a pub the night before taking five rides at Bath in August.

Dawson, 30, who has previously credited Sporting Chance, the charity set up by former footballer Tony Adams for helping him quit alcohol earlier in his career, walked down to a local pub and had ‘four to six’ gin and lemonades before falling into conversation with a stranger who offered him cocaine.

He then went onto record two fourth placed finishes, a sixth, ninth and a third placed finish on August 19th.

“How big those lines were, I don’t quite know,” the jockey told yesterday’s disciplinary hearing which handed him down the standard six month ban for failing a drug test.

Dawson, who regularly attended meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous but had lapsed, put it down to the break-up, at the end of 2022, of his relationship with the mother of his daughter who had subsequently moved two hours away.

“It caused all kinds of mental problems that I did not deal with at all well,” he explained.

Dawson is one of six jockeys to have tested positive for cocaine since the start of 2022.

Dawson’s solicitor, Harry Stewart-Moore, told the panel: “He does not have a cocaine problem, he has an alcohol problem, which leads to the occasional misguided use of cocaine.

“In my submission Mr Dawson has demonstrated that he has taken the necessary steps to mitigate the risks of another relapse. He is again in regular attendance at AA meetings and in daily contact with his AA sponsor. He has been honest and open regarding the cause of the positive test. He has not sought to excuse his use of cocaine on the evening of August 18 and has accepted, in fact,. That he took really quite a lot of the drug.

“He has not given a sob story regarding the reasons behind his decision to go looking for alcohol that evening. He does not say that the man who gave him the cocaine did anything other than offer it to him. He did not need to be persuaded or cajoled but accepts he said yes more or less immediately.”

Tim Grey, chair of the panel, told Dawson: “Cocaine is extremely dangerous. It’s illegal for good reason. The risk you pose to your fellow jockeys, to those on course and to the public at large when you use drugs is both real and serious. That is not to ignore the risk to the reputation of the sport.

“Accepting drugs from an unknown man in a pub is reckless in the extreme and puts you in real peril. You can have no idea what you were ingesting.

“In the future you will, we sincerely hope, have a successful career in racing. There may be times when continued abstinence is challenging. When that happens, think about this hearing and what you would be throwing away. I hope this will provide you with an additional incentive to find the strength to continue in abstinence.”

In a statement Dawson thanked the BHA and said he looks forward to returning to race-riding in the spring.