Top jockey Matt Cameron claims he accidentally took cocaine, banned for nine months

Top Waikato jockey Matthew Cameron. Photo / Bevan Conley

A top jockey tried to convince racing investigators that he accidentally ingested cocaine at a party ahead of a race meeting.

Matt Cameron claimed he’d picked up and consumed someone else’s drink at a party, which they’d dosed with cocaine, before failing a post-race drug test a week later.

However, a scientist told racing authorities that in 31 years in the industry, she has never seen anyone put cocaine in their drink.

Following his failed test, Cameron was hauled before the Racing Integrity Board (RIB) last week, where he was handed his second ban from the sport after he was convicted of indecently assaulting another man in a horse float in 2021.

Following that conviction, and a failed bid to overturn it, Cameron received a special exemption to get back in the saddle in late 2023.

However, Cameron will have to hang up his stirrups again for nine months after he failed a drug test following a race in Rotorua earlier this year for having cocaine in his system.

According to the summary of facts released by the board this month, Cameron denied snorting any of the Class A substance but said he’d been at a party a week before the race where he’d accidentally consumed some in a drink he’d picked up.

Cameron said he was aware that other people at the party were using the drug and it was the host of the party who informed him that the non-alcoholic beverage he’d been drinking had a cap of cocaine in it.

“I was aware that people were putting caps of cocaine into there [sic] drinks, and I was unlucky that someone had put one of them into the drink I was drinking, not knowing it was mine or intentionally doing it to me,” he told the board in a statement at a hearing last month.

“There were a lot of drinks around and a lot of different glasses... I was aware afterwards that my drink had cocaine put into it after I had consumed it.”

Cameron stressed that no one had spiked his drink, rather he’d mistakenly picked up and drunk from a glass that already had the substance in it.

However, racing investigators were sceptical of Cameron’s version of events.

Matthew Cameron was convicted of indecent assault in 2021. Photo / Mike Scott

They submitted evidence from an Institute of Environmental Science and Research scientist, with 31 years’ experience, who said she’d never heard of anyone ingesting cocaine orally, with the majority of its users opting to snort it.

The scientist was also doubtful of the timing of the drug use, given that cocaine is generally only detectable for one to two days, though prolonged use or very pure cocaine can be present for longer.

Cameron didn’t address investigators’ doubts about his explanation and conceded he shouldn’t have been at a party where people were consuming drugs.

“I put myself in a situation that night which clearly was not a great decision,” he said.

“I have worked super hard to get to where I am after the last couple of years which have not been easy.

“I have not had a drop of alcohol for over two years now to rebuild myself as a person and a jockey.”

Cameron said he’d co-operated with investigators and accepted that he should be stood down, just not for the full year that was sought.

The board, however, found that Cameron had failed to produce any compelling evidence in support of his defence.

“He could have, for example, provided the RIB investigator with at least some information upon which his explanation could have been checked out and corroborated,” its ruling reads.

The board also queried the gap between when he took the cocaine to when he was tested for it.

“Knowing that he was ‘aware lots of people were putting caps of cocaine into their drinks’, the respondent should have at least taken greater care to protect his drink,” the board said.

The board said Cameron had taken a “calculated risk” by racing when he knew he might fail a drug test but hadn’t explained to them why he decided to take that risk.

“The respondent had options available to him, the obvious one being that he could have stood himself down. Therefore, his decision to ride at the meeting was a gross error of judgment on his part,” the board said.

“To elect to ride in this knowledge could be considered at worst, reckless, and at best, thoughtless.”

Cameron has only been back in the saddle since October last year after he was automatically banned from racing, or even setting foot on a racetrack, for two years following a conviction for indecent assault.

In its ruling, the board said that Cameron had only recently returned to the track following the incident.

“For that to occur, his supporters would have put their faith in him and he has now let them down,” the board said in banning Cameron from the track for a further nine months.

Cameron has been approached through the Jockey’s Association for comment.

Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.