Queen Elizabeth's Racehorse Fails Drug Test

Estimate, a five-year-old mare owned by Queen Elizabeth II, tested positive for morphine following a recent race. Morphine is illegal on race days, but it appears this may all have been a big mistake.

"On 17 July the British Horseracing Authority announced that a number of post-race samples, obtained from recent race meetings, had been found to indicate the presence of morphine," the Queen's bloodstock and racing advisor John Warren said.

"Five horses, under the care of various trainers, were affected. I can confirm that one of those horses was Estimate.

"Initial indications are that the positive test resulted from the consumption of a contaminated feed product."

The BHA announced last week that a cluster of five morphine positives had popped up, with at least one of them belonging to a race-winner. One of the major suppliers of feed pointed to a possible case of contamination, but I don't think you're crazy if you're leaning toward "kingdom-wide cover-up" here.

Estimate is most famous for winning the Gold Cup at last year's Royal Ascot, the most prestigious distance event on the British circuit and the first time in the event's 207-year history it had been won by a horse belonging to the reigning monarch.

[ BBC]