Max Ward was forced to make his own running which is always a VERY big ask for any horse let alone a 4 year old. When doing so all one does is set it up for others and that is what he did. However, he was still a huge disappointment. Lets hope Hopstrings can lift the spirits tomorrow. When you put your heart and soul into something as intensely as we do dealing with disappointments isn't easy, in fact it is very difficult. I know there will be many critics slagging the way he was ridden but things aren't always as straight forward as they seem, we did what we thought was best having seen him pull too hard previously at Stratford. He didn't run himself into the ground and on this occasion I don't think it would have mattered how he was ridden, he would still have finished where he did.
