Walsh faces inquiry for drugs-test failure

David Walsh, the jockey who rode Barton Bank into second place in last month's Cheltenham Gold Cup, has tested positive in a random drugs test.

The Jockey Club yesterday confirmed that a test on Walsh taken on 27 February at Huntingdon, had proved positive for amphetamines and had been confirmed in counter-analysis. The 22-year-old will now face a disciplinary hearing.

Nigel Twiston-Davies, the trainer that retains Walsh, the leading conditional rider this season with 28 winners, said: "David said he hasn't taken anything. Whether somebody could have stuck something in a glass I don't know."

Walsh's agent, Chris Broad, said: "He denies ever taking drugs and I am 101% behind him."

Walsh, who is Irish, is in his second season in this country. At the start of last term he joined Twiston-Davies, who gave him his first big winner when Grange Brake took the Rehearsal Chase at Chepstow in December, 1995. The champion trainer, Martin Pipe, has supplied him with 14 victories this season.

The Jockey Club has suspended two riders since the introduction of random drug tests in 1994. The Flat apprentice Sean McCarthy was banned for two months and the conditional jockey Darren Salter was suspended for three weeks.