Focus on our own cocaine problem instead of blaming France for positive tests

The intervention was important and necessary. It was not an outside observer who admitted there is a cocaine problem among jockeys, it was the chief executive of the riders' own trade association.

With further evidence provided last week by Nathan Evans' six-month ban, it is even easier to argue there surely is such a problem. It is harder to argue there is a problem with the way French racing's governing body tests for cocaine.

It is now the case that three of the men to have been crowned British champion jockey in the last two decades have been handed suspensions for providing positive cocaine tests in France. Those who feel France is a guilty party in those and other stories may be barking up the wrong tree.