appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

SCMP Reporter

Random drug and alcohol testing for jockeys is set to be ratified by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club's racing committee when it meets tomorrow, it was announced at the annual end-of-season press conference yesterday.

The proposal is understood to be for two jockeys, chosen at random before each meeting, to give breath and urine samples before racing commences.

The race-meeting stewards are already empowered to ask for a specific jockey to be tested if they suspect anything untoward, but they have yet to use their powers.

These new measures bring local racing in to line with racing in America, Australia, France and Britain where a number of jockeys have already tested positive to cannabis and cocaine.

Lawrence Wong, the Club's chief executive, said: 'Racing safety is very much in our minds and we plan to introduce new testing for riders.

'These tests will be for alcohol and other substances and will follow similar rules to those deployed elsewhere.'  Once the racing committee has agreed to this move, the alcohol tests will mirror those given under the recently introduced drink-driving legislation.

 It has not yet been decided whether threshold levels will be allowed for other substances such as cannabis. In some racing jurisdictions, such a threshold is in place.

'This is all about judgment and is part of our desire to make racing as safe as possible,' stressed director of racing, Philip Johnston.

'It is not the same as testing the horses. We are not looking for medication-free jockeys. We are looking for clear judgment.' In a continued drive to improve jockeys' safety the Club has also made it compulsory for riders to wear body protectors - for which they will be given a pound weight allowance.

'I'm taking mine back with me to Australia. They are a great idea. The doctors say that his body protector probably saved Wally's [Swinburn] life when he had that fall and if we're given a pound allowance there is absolutely no excuse for not wearing one,' commented four-time Melbourne champion Damien Oliver.

  At yesterday's press conference it also emerged that the racing season will finish a week later next year with the final meeting coming on June 15.

  This raises fears for the horses' welfare. With high humidity and temperatures soaring towards 40 degrees Celsius comes the dreaded spectre of heat stress that can seriously damage and even kill horses.

 The extension of the season for a week is a result of the fixture list being extended to 75 meetings to cope with the increased number of horses in training.

'This year it was indeed exceptionally hot, but in other seasons it has rained hard on the final day,' Johnston pointed out.

  'It could be that because we are racing a week later the racing committee decides to hold the last meeting at night time, but this is something they have been very loathe to do. We have never finished with a night meeting before.'   Six of those 75 meetings - which does not as yet include provision for a simulcast of the Melbourne Cup though the Club will be applying to the Government for a special licence to do so - will be on the new Sha Tin dirt surface and Johnston is confident the sandmesh surfaces at Sha Tin and Happy Valley will hold up much better than this season.

 'A reduction in the meetings at Sha Tin from 43 to 38 will help considerably and Happy Valley will hold up much better with a summer's growth on its back,' he stressed.

 The Club has also appointed Paco Yip from deputy tracks manager to be the new tracks manager with special responsibility for growing the grass.

Yip, 31, will have Dr Tony Field, a crop scientist with 30 years' experience, working alongside him on a consultancy basis.

 'Paco's appointment is very much in keeping with our management philosophy of localisation,' said Wong.

 Prize money has been increased by an average of 10 per cent, with the biggest increases coming in Classes Three and Four and the griffin races to cater for the influx of superbly bred and expensively bought griffins.

 There will also be more griffin events programmed, starting from November rather than December, and there will also be more maiden races and more conditions races for three-and four-year-olds in Classes Three and Four.

  Next season the Hong Kong Derby and International Cup will both carry a total purse of $6.5 million with the International Bowl and Vase worth $6 million.

  The Club will guarantee local jockeys a minimum income of $260,000 and any local rider finishing in the first five in a race will be paid a bonus from $1,880 for first down to $630 for fifth.

 Apprentices will receive $6,100 in their first year and $7,600 thereafter as a basic salary before prize money percentages.

 In a boost to next December's International Sale, all of the 30 lots will work down the Happy Valley home straight prior to the auction and the world's best female jockey, Julie Krone, will be back in town for ladies' day on November 16. She will be joined by Donna Barton, America's next best female jockey.

The place quinella will finally come into operation next season, requiring punters to find two of the first three home in any order.

And all reporters will have to carry Jockey Club identification if they want to bring the public news from the vicinity of the Sha Tin trainers' stand during morning trackwork.



Jockeys face drug, alcohol tests under new Club rules