Urban Sea offspring a classic bunch

The last flight from Birmingham to Dublin on the Wednesday of the Cheltenham Festival had already cleared the M1 and crossed the airport perimeter fence. Suddenly, just as rubber was about to meet runway, the pilot did whatever it is that pilots do to make an airplane go back up.

Before anybody had time to work out what exactly had happened, 200 were circling Co Meath, the warm recent memories of time spent with Moscow Flyer, Kauto Star, Denman and Brave Inca now ice cold and distant.

Then the gallows humour started, most of it coming from what seemed to be a group of brothers in row 25.