Shock as Newcastle racecourse staff suspended in Ladies First doping scandal

BRITISH racing was rocked on Wednesday after news broke of a suspected doping scandal at Newcastle.

TWO members of racecourse staff have been suspended after Ladies First returned a positive test last month.

The shocking news emerged following a BHA investigation into the performance of the filly on 21 September.

Mick Easterby's runner was sent off a red-hot 6-4 favourite for a one mile race at the track following an easy win at York on her previous start.

Both Easterby and his assistant trainer and son David had backed the four-year-old, but she was struggling a long way out and eventually trailed home in eighth, beaten 22 lengths.

The on-course stewards ordered Ladies First to be routine tested, after which a trace of a beta-blocking type drug was found in her system.

UP FOR THE CUP Everything you need to know about the Breeders' Cup 2018

David Easterby told the Racing Post: “The BHA turned up and told us we’d failed a test for a beta-blocker.

"I personally had a bet on her, a double with Arrowtown, and was expecting Ladies First to run well, and my dad did a treble including her.

“She’d run well on the all-weather before, and on the handicap she was a racing certainty being well-in from her York win, so it was a shock to see her finish 20-odd lengths back.

"We looked for every conceivable excuse for her below-par run and couldn’t find one.

"Scott McCullagh (jockey) said she hung early, but when we got her back home she was perfectly fine and we couldn’t find a single thing wrong with her.

"We just put it down to it being one of those things, as you have to do in racing."

Easerby continued: "I’ve been told two people have been suspended from Newcastle but I don’t know any more than that.

"Anyone who works in racing has the welfare of the animals at heart and that’s a priority, so I’m certainly not thinking that any of our staff would be considering doing anything like that.

"You spend all day working with racehorses, be it feeding, mucking them out, grooming them and making sure everything is perfect for them, so you can’t see anyone doing anything detrimental to a horse. It just doesn’t add up."

Equine welfare officers will go over CCTV footage from the racecourse stables and will check Easterby's yard as part of the investigation.

The BHA refused to comment, as did Arena Racing Company who own Newcastle racecourse.