RACING: DRUGS AT BOTTOM OF 2005 SHOCKWAVES

It was like comparing a sprinter with a stayer: and the cases could
not have been more different.

At one end was the frank admission from Michael Walker about his use
of cocaine.

At the other end was the drawn-out denial from Lisa Cropp to having
tested positive to methamphetamine.

Both events sent shockwaves through New Zealand racing in
2005.

Walker, in a stunning revelation, admitted using cocaine while based
in Melbourne for about seven months in 2004.

In a television programme in August, Walker said: "I woke up in the
morning, had breakfast, do cocaine, that was it".

He was amazed not to be caught by Australian racing
authorities.

"I don't know how, but I never got tested for it when I was over
there. If I had got tested I wouldn't even still be a jockey."

Walker said he used marijuana from the age of 11 as well as
alcohol.

"I was at school doing drugs. I would turn up to school
drunk."

His admission came after Walker was disqualified from driving on a
drink-driving charge. He crashed a Mercedes Benz near New Plymouth on
June 24, shortly after 4am.

Cropp denied the use of drugs from the time it was reported she had
tested positive to methamphetamine in a routine urine sample taken at
a Te Rapa meeting on May 7.

Asked if she had used speed, Cropp said no.

"Absolutely no way. I've copped those sort of rumours all my life.
When you're at the top, people are there to knock you down."

She initially blamed the result on herbal pills purchased at a health
shop to help her reduce weight.

It is now more than seven months since the positive test was announced
and a conclusion is nowhere in sight.

The case is headed for the High Court in 2006. Cropp's lawyers are
seeking a judicial review of the make up of racing's judicial panel
hearing the inquiry.

The positive swab charge came as Cropp chased hard after Lance
O'Sullivan's record for most wins in a racing season.

She went on to break the record, posting 197 wins to surpass the 193
O'Sullivan set in 2001-02.

It was the first time a woman had topped the jockeys'
premiership.

Cropp continued to kick home winners with regularity, despite the
distractions of the drug inquiry.

Walker also made the most of his opportunities after linking with the
powerful Waikato stable of Mark Walker (no relation).

Million-dollar purchases Darci Brahma and Don Garcia had the
Walker-Walker combination to the fore in the latter part of the year.

Darci Brahma made one-horse races of the Wellington Guineas and the
Two Thousand Guineas, while Don Garcia won his first two races before
a surprise defeat.

Michael Walker had tongues wagging in more than one way during the
year. After appearing to poke out his tongue at rivals at the finish
of a race at Hawera in October he was asked by racing officials not to
do it again.

He said he was not being rude, it was part of his Maori
heritage.

He has continued the practice, although it has not been directed at
fellow riders since.

Xcellent was without question the racetrack star for the
year.

He scored a breathtaking win in the Mudgway Stakes at Hastings in
August when resuming, then followed up with a resounding win in the $1
million Kelt Capital Stakes, New Zealand's richest race.

That sealed his trip to Australia for the Melbourne spring carnival,
but the Aussies were wondering what all the hype was about when he was
well beaten in the Cox Plate.

A wet track was blamed for his Cox Plate failure and that seemed
justified when he came out and ran third in the Melbourne Cup, was won
for an historic third time by Makybe Diva.