Lacklustre Ouija lost shoe

Ouija Board, Horse of the Year in 2004, made a hugely disappointing start to her 2005 campaign as she trailed home a distant seventh in the Prince Of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot at York yesterday.

But trainer Ed Dunlop insisted after the race that all was far from lost with the filly, and said: “We can put a line through that form”.

Soon niggled along by Jamie Spencer, Ouija Board was allowed to come home in her own time behind battling winner Azamour.

Understandably keen to get Ouija Board home and allow his veterinary surgeons to conduct an examination, Dunlop revealed after the race that the four-year-old had lost a shoe in the early stages.

He said: “She has come back without a shoe, so we can put a line through the form. She lost the right-fore shoe after about two furlongs.

“She appeared to put her foot in a hole and he (Spencer) was never really happy with her again. She’s too good a moving filly and she kept getting unbalanced.

“She appears to be okay. She has pulled up sound, but we won’t know until later. She never picked up, but it’s too early to suggest she’s not the filly she was last year.

“We had reservations about running on this ground anyway. We took a chance and it didn’t work.

"Life goes on.”