Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the Jockey Club's director of racing, said: 'This is a serious case. It is damaging for his reputation and for ours. Starke's attitude in the inquiry was very good, but he was very emotional, because I think he realised he has blown his big opportunity in Hong Kong.

'He said he accepted that the process had been very fair but that he had never taken cocaine. Starke said he was not a habitual user of cocaine and has no idea how the substance would have been in his system. He said he has been tested all over the world before and without a problem.

'Starke is acutely aware of the embarrassment he caused last year when he tested positive for alcohol and that the embarrassment was even greater this time. He told us the only possible explanation for the drug in his sample was that someone had put it in a drink or a cigarette when he was out with friends in Germany before coming to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, how it got there is not our problem. Our problem is the positive test.'

Starke tested positive after providing a urine sample prior to racing at Sha Tin on December 16. Analysis of the sample showed the presence of benzoylecgonine, a major metabolite of cocaine, and the result was confirmed last week by an Australian laboratory after Starke requested an independent test on the reserve portion of the sample.

Engelbrecht-Bresges said yesterday's finding would be 'a huge setback' for Starke. 'This kind of thing can follow you forever, wherever you go,' he said. 'I don't think Starke is finished, he is a very talented jockey, but that's the way it goes. Naturally, he has the right of appeal. He did not indicate whether he would do so or not. He is already on his way home and then I expect he will think about whether he wants to appeal.'

The inquiry at Happy Valley took the story back to where it began on December 12, when Starke was randomly selected for drug and alcohol testing prior to the defence of his title in the International Jockeys' Championship. Dr Terrence Wan See-ming, the Jockey Club's senior racing chemist, detected an irregularity in that sample but, due to an insufficient quantity of urine, was unable to perform the necessary definitive tests and thus could not confirm the presence of the prohibited substance he had detected.

However, the irregularity in the sample prompted the stewards to direct Starke to provide a further sample on December 16, which Dr Wan reported two days later contained a metabolite of cocaine. The analysis showed a clear decline in the amount of the prohibited substance in Starke's system from his first test on December 12 to the test on December 16. However, the presence of any quantity is sufficient for a positive finding. Cocaine can remain in the human system for up to three weeks after being taken.

The reserve portion of the sample was sent to Melbourne's Racing Analytical Services Laboratory for independent testing, which was delayed considerably by the Christmas and New Year holiday period, but a test on January 11 revealed the same prohibited substance.

Starke, who told the hearing he had no means of making an income other than through horseracing, will be permitted to ride other than in races once he has provided racing authorities in his native Germany with a clean urine sample.

But the ban will effectively end Starke's career in Hong Kong, with the last of his eight winners here coming in the final race on December 16 when he scored on Cheers Hong Kong. 'Theoretically, Starke can apply to ride here again but then it would be up to the Licensing Committee to decide and things like this are taken into account, so it would not help him,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said.