FRANKIE DETTORI 
Shocking news from Europe, with Frankie 'Flying Dismount' Dettori being banned from racing for six months due to a positive drugs test. At first, I assumed this was a performance enhancing drug, and after being incredibly disappointed with the Lance Armstrong affair in another sport I love (cycling, and the Tour de France in particular), I couldn't believe the same stain was going to mark a jockey's silks. We all know it's a tough sport, and keeping weight alone needs the hard work of a saint sometimes, but really...

Anyway, it turns out that it was a 'real' drug, with some newspapers citing cocaine. "It doesn't matter what I took or how much," the Italian jockey said. "What I can say is it didn't make me ride any better or make my horse run any faster."

As such, the reputation of the sport is still intact. And to his credit, Dettori is saying he made a mistake at a low-point in his life - he is holding up his hands and taking the punishment handed out to him, knowing that he only has himself to blame. My only hope is that this "one night of madness" remains just that, and he comes back in May 2013 and regains his honour through results in the saddle, just like Lester Piggott did after falling on the wrong side of the law for tax evasion.