Three-month ban suspended for John Egan after testing positive for prohibited substances

John Egan has had a three-month ban suspended for two years after being found to have used prohibited substances following a fall in December last year. 

The 57-year-old jockey sustained soft tissue damage in an incident at Epsom on December 3 and was prescribed the painkiller dihydrocodeine, which, alongside tramadol, was found in traces in a urine sample Egan provided once returning to action over a month later at Kempton on January 22. 

Although the two medications are not performance enhancing, they are on the list of banned substances and resulted in a three-month ban for Egan, which has been suspended for two years subject to enhanced testing and no repeat offences.

Egan accepted the breach of Rule K(49), that "a jockey must ensure that no banned substance is present in their body", and the case was dealt with by the fast-tracked decision process.

Egan, whose son David and daughter Alexandra also ride, is one of the oldest figures in the British weighing room having raced over the span of five decades, and last month said he felt he was riding "better than when I was in my 30s" after winning on Asgard's Captain at York's Ebor meeting.

He is a four-time Group 1-winning rider, most recently when scoring on Les Arcs in the 2006 July Cup, his second victory in the Newmarket sprint after winning on Pastoral Pursuits the previous year.

Read more:

Trevor Whelan breaks leg in three places and Jim Crowley also taken to hospital after frightening mid-race incident at York 

'There was a massive mistake made - it didn't need to happen' - Sean Bowen criticises protocol following injury to fellow jockey 

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