Joe Colliver to face BHA hearing after metabolite of cocaine found in his system

Jockey Joe Colliver, best known for his association with Grade 1-winning hurdler Sam Spinner, faces a disciplinary panel hearing on Thursday after metabolites of cocaine were found in a sample he provided at Wetherby six months ago.

Colliver, 30, has not ridden since Huntingdon on February 25 and was found to have benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in his system when tested at Wetherby two days before.

A statement from the BHA said: “The independent disciplinary panel of the BHA will convene to consider the following charge against the licensed jockey Joe Colliver: whether licensed jockey Joe Colliver is in breach of Rule (K)49 (a jockey must ensure that no banned substance is present in their body) due to the presence of a banned substance benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in a sample collected from him at Wetherby.”

Colliver has ridden 130 winners over jumps in Britain, the majority of which have come from main allies Micky Hammond and Jedd O’Keeffe.

It was on the O’Keeffe-trained Sam Spinner that Colliver gained his biggest success in the 2017 Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot. He was also placed on the same horse in the 2019 Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and the 2018 Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.

In 2016, Colliver served three months of a ten-month jail sentence for crashing his car when two-times over the drink-driving limit and lying about the circumstances by getting a friend to cover for him. He wore an electronic tag upon his release.

The rider, who admitted in a Racing Post interview in 2017 that he used alcohol to cope with the pressures of his job, was also banned from driving for 40 months in May 2019 after pleading guilty to drink-driving.

Colliver’s case, which will take place virtually, will be heard by James O'Mahony, Dr Lyn Griffiths and Tim Etherington.

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