What a day! Instgramher got kicked at the start and then there was a mix up between jockey, starter, and starters assistant. Sam TD had the filly checked out by the starters assistant and in doing so ended up a long way behind the others. He then faced the tape and ambled forward thinking the starter would hold the others until he had joined the line. Instead the starter let them go leaving our filly well behind. Sam realised that there was no point in thrashing her to make up the ground and pulled her up almost immediately after she had jumped off. The inquiry concluded that it is the responsibility of the jockey to get the horse in the position he wants and should have joined the others on the tape at greater speed. I see their point, but would have expected the starter to use some common sense giving the jockey and the filly a chance. Thankfully, you would not meet a nicer guy than Oliver Eaton who owns the filly and he knows that human error was to blame. I personally think the assistant starter, the starter and the jockey all played their part. That's life and we will all move on and forget about it. Consolation was Alice won the best turned out and got 50 quid for all her hard work.
Aiden Murphy kindly invited me to his box for a drink afterwards. I had a quick chat with him, Kim Bailey, Matt Mitchell and Graham Whataley before making a quick exit back to evening stable. There was a lot of shouting of my name coming form the hospitality boxes whilst we were talking in the parade ring. When I looked up I saw a group of people I used to play rugby with at Stow. Thanks guys!
We took 10 horses to the grass this morning and schooled 5 over baby fences in the school. All went well. We also backed the Danehill Dancer filly and she behaved beautifully. The others cantered on the woodchip.
