Education and support are needed in the battle against jockey cocaine use

The racing world has never been completely immune to the temptations of cocaine, but there has never been a time when the drug has so regularly formed part of the sport's conversation.

In the not-too-distant past superstar jockeys were revealed to have taken the dangerous stimulant. More recently those finding themselves in hot water have been less famous but more numerous. That has been particularly true in Ireland, while for a few weekends last summer it felt as though Britain's racecourses had become a playground for what some claimed was cocaine-fuelled violence.

Measures were put in place to tackle that problem, yet the sport has continued to be troubled by headlines concerning riders whose careers have been halted due to drug offences.