Enable's half-sister disqualified after testing positive for ketamine traced to staff member

A half-sister to dual Arc winner Enable has had her sole victory rubbed out after she tested positive for the recreational drug ketamine.

Zilfee, trained by John & Thady Gosden and owned by Juddmonte, shares the same mother, Concentric, as the great Enable. Under Frankie Dettori, Enable earned more than £10 million, winning 11 Group 1 races including the Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes three times, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice, the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Eclipse Stakes.

Zilfee made her only start at Kempton in June 2024, winning a 1m4f maiden by a short head. The four-year-old filly has not raced since.

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However a post-race urine sample revealed the presence of ketamine, a prohibited substance on race day. Another sample taken from stablemate Morrophore after she finished sixth in a maiden at Yarmouth in July last year also gave an adverse finding for the drug.

Subsequent out of competition hair samples taken from both horses in July demonstrated “likely multiple low level exposures to ketamine over many months” in Zilfee’s case and “prolonged exposure” in respect of Morrophore, according to a BHA independent disciplinary panel report.

The full details emerged after a BHA inspection of the Gosdens’ stables in Newmarket in August found traces of ketamine in hair samples from four other horses.

Morrophore’s groom and work rider, employed at the yard between October 2023 and August 2024, admitted recreational ketamine use “approximately three times a week", the report said. She did not look after Zilfee but that filly’s groom had borrowed a kit bag used by Morrophore’s handler to take her to the races at Kempton.

The panel’s report said the stable worker “denied any direct administration of ketamine and believed that there was cross contamination as a result of not always washing her hands before coming to work”.

She admitted that she had been taken through the induction procedure including the stable’s substance misuse policy which highlighted the need to avoid cross contamination.

The Gosdens both admitted breaches of the rules of racing though it was accepted they had no knowledge of the drug use in a yard and reasonable precautions were taken. A random drug and alcohol testing regime of staff has since been implemented at the yard.

Panel chair Fiona Horlick KC imposed a £3,000 fine and ordered the disqualification of both horses.