Racing: Cropp pays arrears of $92,000

Lisa Cropp. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

Former champion jockey Lisa Cropp is free to reapply for her riding licence and says she has unfinished business on the racetrack.

The 38-year-old Cambridge rider, at the centre of a long-running drugs case, has paid $92,000 in outstanding costs clearing her from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing's (NZTR) arrears list.

Cropp was disqualified from racing for nine months, fined $7500 and ordered to pay the costs after being found guilty in June last year of methamphetamine use.

She told the Waikato Times yesterday that she was relieved at the prospect of finally getting her licence back, and was getting back into shape after an operation on her shoulder. She had unfinished business on the racetrack, including winning a Melbourne Cup.

The case had dragged on for more than three years before the penalty was handed down by racing's Judicial Control Authority which found a drug charge relating to her positive urine test to methamphetamine at Te Rapa on May 7, 2005, to be proved.

The disqualification ended on March 25 this year but Cropp had to pay outstanding costs and clear her name from NZTR's arrears list before reapplying for her licence.

Chief racecourse inspector John McKenzie confirmed Cropp had paid the outstanding costs.

McKenzie told the newspaper Cropp was now required to reapply for her licence in full where "due process" would be followed.

Cropp has ridden 963 New Zealand winners. She topped the premiership with a record 197 wins in the 2004-05 season.

- NZPA