Sometimes in the racing game it’s just about survival

THERE were only a few enthusiasts left in the stand ten minutes after the first race at Punchestown yesterday. Their attention was held by the activity behind the large blue screen around an apparently stricken horse which had fallen at the last fence.

Obviously they could not fully see what was going on – that’s what the screen is for – but they waited to see if Henry De Bromhead’s Queiros Bleu would regain his feet or fall victim to the humane ministrations of the vets.

Queiros Bleu had buried his jockey Robbie Moran in a dreadful fall in the Martinstown Opportunity Series Final at that last fence. Moran walked away, but the horse was still prone a full ten minutes after he had fallen.