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The Sandy Thomson trained gelding suffered a fatal last hurdle fall at Musselburgh this afternoon. R.I.P.
If only Ryan Mania had pulled him up after some bad mistakes & dropping back, poor lad RIP 😥💔
I can never understand why jockeys persist when all chance has gone #livetofightanotherday
Jusbluey, I agree it is desperately sad what happened to The Northernlights, but would respectfully suggest that comment about Ryan Mania isn’t fair.
The Northernlights was still in third place and may have held on to it. If we are going to criticise Mania for not pulling up when the horse’s chance of winning had gone, there is justification for criticising the seven jockeys who were behind him at the time of the fall, and who all rode their mounts to complete the course. If we really think that they should all be criticised, we probably shouldn’t be having any racing at all.
I know your comment is made from a caring place as you hate seeing what happened to The Northernlights, as do I, but I think we have to accept that the sport has risks that cannot always be prevented. If there is anyone to blame, it is probably fairer to blame all of us who collectively follow the sport rather than criticise Mania.
RIP The Northernlights
I appreciate your thoughts Marlingford but I have watched racing for over 50yrs so I consider that I am pretty experienced at deciding when I think a jockey has made a poor choice & one that doesn’t benefit the horse, which in this case it didn’t. It had made an horrendous mistake I think at the 2nd last, after previous mistakes which must have taken their toll. Looking back on it’s racing history it was no world beater & in my honest opinion it was the fall of a tired horse which cost it’s life. As for the rest of the field I probably could comment that some of those should have been pulled up. In this instance it was the sad loss of this horse that was uppermost in my mind.
I’m sorry if you disagree with me, but I am entitled to my opinion as you are yours
Thanks for your reply Jusbluey. One thing we obviously agree on is how sad the outcome was, and I totally respect where you are coming from.
My general stance is to be very cautious about ascribing blame as the sport is unavoidably dangerous. Pulling up would have been safer, but that is true for every horse in every race. Jockeys have to maintain an incredibly difficult balancing act. Unless the horse was showing signs of injury, I think Mania was right to continue. He would no doubt have been in for a whole other set of criticism if he had pulled up when in with a chance of coming third.
Am in no way looking to be argumentative on this sad topic though. I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one
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