Pipe faces inquiry after positive test

An inquiry is to be held by the Jockey Club's disciplinary committee into a positive urine sample taken from the Martin Pipe-trained Hamilton Silk after the gelding won a hurdle race at Chepstow on 9 March.

The four-year-old, formerly trained by Michael Meagher but bought by new connections out of a Bangor seller in December, won the Curre Juvenile Novice Handicap Hurdle at the Welsh track, but has since tested positive to the presence of procaine in a post-race sample.

The Horseracing Forensic Laboratory detected the presence of the prohibited substance - a medication which acts on the nervous system to prolong the action of penicillin or as a local anaesthetic.

If the committee finds Pipe in breach of the rules, Hamilton Silk could lose the race and the trainer himself could face a fine.

Hamilton Silk, a well-backed 9-4 favourite, landed the contest by six lengths from Stan Mellor's Shepherd's Rest.