But trainers and jockeys alike have rejected press suggestions that the race should not have been run, even though heavy rain made the ground very testing. It was only heavy ground - there was nothing wrong with it. It is a lot safer on that ground as they go slower and horses don't get hurt when they fall. On fast ground horses get killed and jockeys get hurt. In different conditions horses would still have fallen.
Some horses go in that ground, it is the nature of the sport - it is an outdoor sport.
It was the loose horses which caused the mayhem. If there hadn't been the incident at the Canal Turn a few more would have got round. I walked the course before racing and it wasn't too bad. If Paddy's Return hadn't caused havoc at the Canal Turn there would probably have been 25 horses pasing the stands - it was one of those things and it was nothing to do with the ground. I think the jockeys need complementing on the way they rode in the conditions.