Jockey who smoked meth after getting engaged cops year-long ban

Toni Moki was banned for one year after being found with meth in her system. Photo / Northern Advocate

A jockey who smoked meth to celebrate after her partner proposed to her has been banned from racing for a year.

Toni Moki was selected in November last year for random drug screening while working at the Te Aroha Racecourse, but her urine sample came back positive for methamphetamine.

In an emailed statement to the Racing Integrity Board, she admitted taking drugs the weekend prior but said it was a one-off thing and done in celebration after her partner proposed.

“It was a poor decision but getting engaged only happens once in a lifetime,” she said.

Moki said she would be happy to do further drug tests to prove that this was a one-time error of judgment and that she wasn’t a consistent meth user.

The board said in its decision released over the weekend that drug use within the racing industry could not be tolerated as it put the reputation of the whole industry at risk.

It said methamphetamine was of particular concern because of the potential contamination to horses by people who have been using it.

In the last 21 years though there had only been about 15 cases where trainers or jockeys have tested positive for methamphetamine.

In further submissions to the board Moki said she had assumed the drugs would have been out of her system and that she wasn’t acting erratically at work. Further, she said that a 12-month ban was not a proportionate punishment.

“I made a huge error in judgment, but everyone who worked with me that day will attest to the fact that nothing about my behaviour suggested I was incapable of performing my job to the best of my abilities,” she said.

“A 12-month suspension will mean that I have to give up a career in the racing industry for good. Precedence shows that every jumps jockey that has been suspended for this length of time has not come back to the industry. Not one of them.”

Finally, Moki requested that she receive a ban similar in length to someone who had tested positive for cannabis or alcohol and that she would submit to a monthly drug test at her own cost.

“I believe that this would be a more proportionate punishment and would act as a great deterrent rather than making it impossible to continue in this industry. It would also show proof of rehabilitation.”

However, the board said that the handling of horses while under the influence of methamphetamine (including while it was in a person’s system) was intolerable and banned Moki until February next year.

Moki didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.