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Benoit de la Sayette could return to action next month after been given a six-month ban, backdated to April, for testing positive for cocaine.
The 7lb-claimer grabbed the headlines earlier in the spring when he partnered Haqeeqy to victory for John and Thady Gosden in the Lincoln at Doncaster.
However, a video was subsequently circulated on social media claiming to show De la Sayette at a party in the presence of cocaine following his Doncaster victory, prompting the British Horseracing Authority to take urine and hair samples from De la Sayette on March 31.
The urine sample returned negative on the same day the test was administered, but the hair sample had returned positive for metabolites of cocaine, with an interim suspension placed on the rider on April 17, with De la Sayette admitting he had previously used the drug, although insisting the video was from October 2019.
Apprentice jockey Benoit de la Sayette tested positive for metabolites of cocaine in March
At a disciplinary hearing on Thursday, Ciara McElvogue, representing the BHA, said the rider had admitted taking cocaine 'around three or four times' between August 2020 and January 2021, after falling in with a 'bad crowd' while living in Newmarket.
De la Sayette was represented by Rory Mac Neice, who said the rider takes 'full responsibility for the position he now finds himself in' and explained De la Sayette came into contact with cocaine through people
