LEVEY FARCE LATEST BHA BLUNDER

SEAN LEVEY is furious and who can blame him. Wrongly sidelined for eight days by the British Horseracing Authority over a false positive drugs test that ultimately cost him the £20,000 leading jockey prize in the Racing League, a dent in his reputation and still no explanation or apology from the BHA.

It will be interesting if the Classic-winning jockey takes this farce further and seeks compensation. Levey, who has been cleared of any wrongdoing after a urine test came back negative after a false positive swab, has missed out on valuable income and the lack of accountability from the sport’s chiefs has been mind-blowing.

Firstly, there are plenty of leading figures in racing that desperately want to give the Racing League a platform to succeed. The prize money is very good but the team format is questionable. The second year of the league was slimmed down and teams could be analysed with more reliability over the six meetings.

He was miles clear going into the last day and then he was stood down over a false positive test and was pipped to the post. The integrity of the competition has been undermined by this blunder.

If swab tests are unreliable then they should be binned and random urine tests have to be the way forward. It’s also ridiculous that someone should be banned with no explanation. False positives can happen and there should be a second test immediately after the initial one to avoid doubt over testing.

The Levey debacle has been another unedifying example of poor governance by the BHA and the testing process needs revised.