“I take full responsibility for what I did. I’m embarrassed about it.

“I have let down my family, my friends and my supporters and the racing industry, which I love being part of.

“It was a stupid thing to do, it was on a non-racing day and it was several days before I rode again but I know that isn’t the point.

“I have never ridden a horse under the influence of any substance but I also understand the rules are there for a reason.”


Jockeys undergo random drug testing at race and/or trial meetings and Weatherley has not previously returned a positive.

He realises he could be disqualified for months or up to a year after the positive test.

“I have co-operated with the RIB investigator since I was informed of the result,” he said.

“I know I will learn from this and want to remain in the racing industry and try to make amends.”

Weatherley has ridden 442 winners in New Zealand, including 25 at the elite black-type level, including a Karaka Millions 3-Year-Old win on Pin Me Up.

The jockey was previously found guilty of reckless riding after causing the accident that resulted in fellow rider Taiki Yanagida dying from injuries suffered in a race fall at Cambridge in August 2022.

Weatherley had his jockey’s licence taken away for nine weeks for his involvement in the tragedy but hair and urine samples taken post that race day showed no signs of prohibited substances.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.