Racing: Dope case concludes

THE Jockey Club formally closed its inquiry yesterday into the doping of Her Honour at Kempton in January. Despite no guilt being attributed to her trainer, Martin Pipe, he has been fined a mandatory pounds 200, while whoever administered the drug remains on the loose.

After the unsavoury publicity of last week's edition of On The Line, which gave the impression that it is easy to break into racecourse stables and dope horses with undetectable drugs, it is not the sort of outcome the Jockey Club would have wished.

Pipe was fined under the rule which places responsibility on trainers for their horses at all times. Her Honour's urine tested positive for the sedative after she faded dramatically in a novice hurdle for which she started favourite.

The Devon and Cornwall police, called in by the Jockey Club to investigate the case, came up with no firm findings.

After yesterday's inquiry, Pipe said: 'It was a fair hearing. I'm 100 per cent happy and satisfied that my staff acted properly. I don't know how this drug came to be found. It was administered by somebody unknown.'