Four-time Olympic show jumper Michael Whitaker is suspended after horse fails drug test

Whitaker suspended after horse fails drug test

LONDON — Four-time Olympic show jumper Michael Whitaker has been suspended after his horse failed a drug test.

The 49-year-old Briton has been provisionally banned after his horse, Tackeray, tested positive for the synthetic hormone Altrenogest during a competition last month at La Baule, France.

Whitaker has requested his “B” sample be tested. If that is also positive, he wants a full hearing before an International Equestrian Federation tribunal.

Whitaker, a silver medalist at the 1984 Olympics, was a late withdrawal from last year’s Beijing Games due to an injury to his horse, Portofino.

Equestrianism has been rocked by a series of doping cases in the past year, with six riders being suspended in Beijing.