BARBURY Castle trainer Alan King has been fined £2,000 after Yanworth failed a drugs test following the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

The seven-year-old gelding tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide (TCA), an anti-inflammatory which may be legitimately used on horses in training but is banned on raceday.

Yanworth, owned by JP McManus, was sent off the 2-1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle, but trailed home seventh, beaten 14 lengths by Buveur D'Air.

He subsequently won the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree in April.

King received the punishment from a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel after an inquiry was held on Thursday.

The BHA said the disciplinary panel's written reasons surrounding the Yanworth case will "be published in due course" once they have been given to racing's ruling body.

It is not the first time one of King's horses has tested positive for TCA, with Midnight Cataria disqualified from second place at Kempton in October 2015 after the drug was detected in her system.

The Barbury Castle handler was fined £1,000 on that occasion.