Racing: Cropp faces uphill battle for licence

Lisa Cropp faces an uphill battle to be relicensed as a jockey.

The renowned Cambridge horsewoman last week paid most of the $100,000-plus she owed New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing from her long-running positive methamphetamine drugs test in May 2005.

The $92,000 she paid, which were costs, allows her to reapply for her jockeys licence.

But then the battle only begins.

Until recently when jockeys had alcohol and marijuana positives, if they reapplied for their licence they had only to prove they were drug and alcohol free. It was simple.

Methamphetamine changed all that.

Alcohol will clear the system in a couple of weeks, marijuana can take up to three months.

But once that was clear in both cases there was no reason not to re-issue a licence.

There were no on-going issues.

It's well documented that methamphetamine use, beyond a certain level and timeframe, causes irreparable brain damage.

Sadly, despite so-called drug education in New Zealand, few realise just how serious that problem is.

Again sadly, a decade from now, many will realise they've woken up too late.

Racing officials, who will spare nothing to prove they are being fair, will doubtless put Cropp through searching tests to assure themselves she is fit to resume a career which has won her accolades worldwide.

Racing chief detective John McKenzie said yesterday he could not be specific what tests Cropp would be required to pass to get a raceday licence, something she had not used, or been able to use, for more than 14 months.

"I don't think we should be declaring anything about what's required until we have an application for a licence - if, in, fact we receive

one," said McKenzie.

"But rest assured, we will be be going through due process."

McKenzie accepted the protocol had changed because of methamphetamine, or it's New Zealand street name of P.

"It's all about safety - everything. Every drug and alcohol rule racing has is about nothing but safety.

"Unlike other drugs, methamphetamine can leave the system totally in 24 to 48 hours. We will require tests that show that anything mental, physical or psychological that could even slightly impact on safety has been expunged. We will require medical tests that satisfy us."

In the 2009 book, Riding With The Devil, the Lisa Cropp Book former champion jockey Lance O'Sullivan said he would not have been prepared to ride against Cropp if he'd still been riding.

"I know this is easy to say, because I'm not riding, but I'd refuse to ride in a race Lisa Cropp was riding in.

"Look, race riding can be dangerous. When you're riding at such close quarters you have to rely on the competence of the riders you're following and the riders alongside you.

"I'd have no confidence following Lisa Cropp. "I know I'd have got support in the jockeys' room."