William Carson has been suspended from riding after failing a drug test for cocaine at Lingfield earlier this year.

Carson, 29, has been handed a backdated six-month ban from April 4, 2019 to October 4, 2019 inclusive after a sample collected contained a metabolite of cocaine.

The rider is the grandson of multiple champion jockey Willie Carson and has ridden more than 450 winners in his career, including big-race success in the 2008 Ayr Gold Cup on Regal Parade and the Group 3 Autumn Stakes in 2016 on Best Solution.

Carson, who has not had a winner this year in 18 attempts and has not ridden since April, produced a sample containing benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, when tested at Lingfield on March 27.

The disciplinary panel on Thursday found the rider in breach of rule (D) 65 and handed him the half-year suspension.

Jockeys Kieran Shoemark, Callum Rodriguez and Kevin Lundie have returned from cocaine bans in the last 12 months, while amateur rider Peter Bryan is serving a six-month suspension after testing positive for the drug this year.

Racing Post