What should have been the anointing of a "champion elect" at Doncaster yesterday turned in a split-second to a tragedy when Darlan - one of the brightest talents in the hurdling sphere - hit the final hurdle and came down heavily suffering a fatal injury. For those who love the sport of horseracing, this sort of incident is the bitter pill to be swallowed to counter the euphoria and wholesale joy that watching horses in full-flow running and jumping at speed. Detractors and critics were soon decrying the "game" as cruel, but horses have evolved over millennia to run and jump at speed, and it would be even crueler not to allow them to live life to the full. It says a lot for the sport of horseracing that Nicky Henderson, the trainer of Darlan and a man who has spent his entire working life involved with racehorses and knows only too well of the euphoria and the tragedy, was in tears at the track on witnessing the fall and learning of the fate of Darlan.
Would it be too mawkish to have a memorial at a racecourse like Ascot, where a wreath can be laid on Champions Day to those horses who have been injured in horseracing? After a quick test of the opinion on Twitter it seems that it's probably a bad idea that would invite trouble and criticism from the opponents of horseracing. Instead, when I'm next at Cheltenham for the Festival in March, I'll lay a flower at the base of the statue of Arkle.
After a pause for thought, life moves on....
We have two meetings today at Market Rasen and Sedgefield. At Market Rasen, I note that GALLOX BRIDGE from my personal alert list has his debut chase today in the novice event over 2m2f at 2:30. There are only 5 runners going to post in this and usually I do not wager in such small fields, but the presence of unconvincing chaser Megastar as the short-priced favourite means that I'm likely to obtain a little bit of value about GALLOX BRIDGE. Having a wager on horses having their chase debut is probably the quickest way to lose your money in horse-racing, so I'm not advising readers to risk their money but, trainer Tim Vaughan has engaged talented rider Dougie Costello (usual jockey Richard Johnson rides one for Vaughan at Sedgefield) and so I'm having a small wager as 7/2 (Stan James & Betfred) looks too long.
Later at Market Rasen in the 3:30 we have what looks to be a very open Class 4 handicap chase over an extended 2m6f. When we last saw him, Charlie Longsdon's NO NO BINGO flopped quite badly at Plumpton and was pulled-up. As here isn't much in this race to write home about (it is a class 4) I'm hoping that the horse is able to revert to the form of his previous win and, if he can, that should be enough to secure him victory in this. Again, I don't like advising wagers in races as weak as this class 4 chase is, so I'm not going to. But I will be having a small wager myself on NO NO BINGO as 7/1 (Stan James) looks interesting.
As I write, Sedgefield is to have another inspection at 11:00am and therefore it is likely to not go ahead. So, I'm not going to look through the cards there. That said, if it does go ahead I think Tim Vaughan's DUNEEN POINT in the 2:50 should give jockey Richard Johnson a winning ride.
No selections advised.
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