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SCMP Reporter

A WORLD authority on doping, Dr David Crone, yesterday spoke for the first time about the Top News affair.

 The Brian Kan Ping-chee-trained gelding tested positive to the prohibited stimulant caffeine after running seventh of eight to Precious Delights at Happy Valley on April 21.

 Kan was exonerated at a subsequent inquiry and Crone, the Jockey Club's chief racing chemist, stressed yesterday that there was practically no chance of Top News having been deliberately doped by a third party.

 ''If he was deliberately doped then I would have expected to have found 20 times as much caffeine in his blood,'' he pointed out.

 Crone detected 120 nanograms of caffeine. One nanogram is one one-thousand-millionth of a gram.

 ''Somewhere around a quarter of a cup of coffee would lead to this kind of reading,'' he added.

 Crone can also be relatively sure Top News' exposure to caffeine came after the race as the prohibited substance showed up in blood tests but not in urine screening.

 He explained: ''The samples were taken an hour after the race. It takes about an hour longer for caffeine to be metabolised into the urine compared to the blood.

 ''So, given that it was in the blood but not in the urine, everything points to a post-race exposure.''  Nor does Crone think doping is a realistic proposition in the territory or in other major jurisdictions.

 Meanwhile, Jockey Club chief executive Major-General Guy Watkins is hoping for a crowd of at least 40,000 for this evening's inaugural meeting under lights on the Sha Tin Turf.

 The Jockey Club have pencilled in the fixture to test the New Territories' market for night racing as well as using it to assess any logistical problems when racing is halted at Happy Valley for redevelopment reasons around March 1995 and November of the same year.

 General Watkins said yesterday: ''We are hoping for some fine weather and exciting sport. The cross-betting turnover figures at Sha Tin suggest there is a market with the growing population there and in places like Tai Po and Fanling.

 The meeting will see the biggest international bloodstock trade fair which will take place in conjunction with the meeting.



Doctor explains doping incident