Jockeys escape a drinks ban

Joe Fanning and Keith Dalgleish breathed sighs of relief at Portman Square today when avoiding suspension, despite failing random breath tests at Redcar last year.

Fanning and Keith Dalgleish, who are both attached to Mark Johnston's powerful Middleham yard, were the only riders to return positive samples from 383 random tests carried out on British courses in the second half of 2003.

Both were facing bans of a month had their readings been above the legal limit for drink driving, but the stewards opted to issue the pair with cautions because of their relatively low levels.

Jockey Club PR director John Maxse stressed that the testing programme will continue in 2004 and hinted that punishments could be increased even for low alcohol readings in the longer term.

He said: "Under the protocol which was set out last year, any jockey who gives a sample of between 54 and 108 milligrams will be given a caution and that is the case with both of these jockeys."

Meanwhile, Howard Johnson returned from windswept gallops this morning considering another swoop for the star French chaser Jair du Cochet. The Durham handler has joined racing's Premier League thanks to the support of Graham Wylie and will test a clutch of the Newcastle software tycoon's big money buys on Saturday.