Minor miracle if Long Run wins the Gold Cup with Sam aboard

Not too many jockeys have the capacity to divide opinion like Sam Waley-Cohen.

He managed to get Long Run up close home to land a second King George at Kempton on Wednesday and, from what I could see and hear on television, everyone seemed quite happy that both horse and rider emerged from the contest with great credit.

But most pundits on television, and indeed in newspapers, bend over backwards to avoid having to mutter even the mildest criticism, so a lot of what we hear and read is more or less worthless anyway.