Horses are such amazing creatures; a curious mix of strength, speed, sensitivity and fragility. Racing them brings moments of immense beauty and joy, but also horrible lows like the loss of Gold Dancer.
I think that these incidents are sadly an unavoidable reality of racing these wonderful but delicate creatures. Jockeys face such a difficult task in making sure they ask enough of their horse to get the best from it, while avoiding asking for too much.
We also have to factor in that this is all taking place in a matter of seconds, and that it is happening in the heat of the action. It is so much easier to make judgements with the benefit of hindsight, or while watching from outside events.
How bad does a mistake need to be to make pulling up a definite requirement? Sometimes a visually ugly mistake can be harmless, whereas the most innocuous looking error can prove fatal. Pulling up all horses that make mistakes would make racing impossible.
I do not believe any jockey would have pulled up Gold Dancer in the specific scenario that arose, and do not think Paul Townend should be being criticised for how subsequent events played out. I hope he is OK tonight, and my condolences to all Gold Dancer’s connections.
RIP Gold Dancer