Foxglove

What are those people thinking about, what are they looking for as they walk the route that the horses will shortly run? Not all of them are jockeys, so who are the others?

The state of the going is every bit as important to trainers and to knowledgeable owners.

Most walk the course for their own interests, and a very few are trusted observers for others who cannot, for one reason or another, do the job themselves.

It is a big enough responsibility to walk the course on your own behalf, never mind for somebody else.

The state of the going is an obvious consideration. Does it offer a spring in it to help a horse to each following stride or is it 'dead', with no resilience?

Is it firm, 'top of the ground' to benefit those horses that 'like to hear their hooves rattle', as the saying goes, is it holding, typical of our Sussex clay, pulling at shoes and tendons?

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette April 30