Talking Horses: jockey's quick thinking saves the day at Exeter

Let us take a moment this morning to praise the quick thinking and will to help of Sam Twiston-Davies, whose actions in the last race at Exeter on Tuesday averted potential injuries to a fellow rider and to two horses. Riding Just So Cool, Twiston-Davies was brought down when in contention at the third-last by the fall of Airton and the risk was immediately clear, because the two horses became entangled with each other and their reins, while one landed on top of Airton’s jockey, Tom Scudamore.

Barely two seconds after hitting the turf, Twiston-Davies rushed over to pull Scudamore out from under the horses and then returned to help calm the two animals so that they could be disentangled. The end result was that horses and jockeys emerged unharmed.

“The fact that I’m able to ride at Chepstow today is down to Sam’s awareness and I’m very, very grateful,” Scudamore tells me. “I was stuck under the pair of them and they were thrashing about. Sometimes horses can panic, especially if they haven’t fallen before.

“I was winded but he then rushed back to the horses and what you don’t see from the video is that, just as quick, the fence attendant was also on the scene to help out. It was a great job by everyone. I was in the yard this morning and Airton was out, having a pick of grass, you’d never know anything had happened.”

This is just the latest example of jump jockeys being quick to help each other in the face of the shared risks of the game. As Scudamore pointed out, Bryan Cooper made a similar intervention at Gowran in 2015, preventing a horse from running off while Robbie Power was dangling from its saddle.

Wednesday’s best bets

Harry Whittington got a winning return to action out of Saint Calvados at Cheltenham recently and I’m hoping he can turn the same trick at Chepstow with another horse in the same colours, Simply The Betts (3.10). First time out is the time to catch this one, judged on the past two seasons.

He did not cope well with the transition to handicaps as a hurdler last season but excuses could be made for his two starts, one of which was in a hot Ascot contest. He’s dropped a few pounds and has a chance to do better in this novice handicap chase, for which he’s 9-2 after opening at 10-1 with one firm.

Earlier, Rebecca Curtis could be on the mark with Just A Thought (2.40), a seven-year-old mare who was keeping much better company than this at the end of her novice season in spring last year. She missed last season and can be expected to be a lot sharper for her return here last month in a novice race. She’s 7-2 for this return to handicaps.

The opening handicap hurdle lacks strength, to put it politely, and Minnie Escape (1.00) is hard to get away from, having come good with an improved performance over course and distance eight days ago. She beat 16 rivals by daylight and is well in under a penalty, so there’s not much wrong with 3-1.

At Musselburgh, pick of the card could be Choochoobugaloo (1.15), who promised to do better over fences when beaten a neck at Sedgefield in April. She’ll be better for a hurdles reappearance and this step up in trip, so 3-1 is fine.

Later, there’s still bits of 9-4 available about the nap, Goldencard (3.25), a Keith Dalgleish hurdler who impressed at Kelso last month.