'It would be tremendous' - disabled owner seeking emotional Plumpton win

Success for Mark Of Gold at Plumpton on Wednesday will mean an awful lot to the permanently incapacitated Stevie Fisher.

The one-time championship-winning farrier, who used to shoe Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Sire De Grugy, has had locked-in syndrome since suffering a stroke in 2014 and his sole means of communication is via his left eyelid.

Yet that has not stopped the former point-to-point rider writing, blink by blink, letter by letter, stories of his past and present in the aptly-named book Blinkin’ ‘Ell.

And he will be at Plumpton to see Mark Of Gold, a horse he owns with friends and who is with Sire De Grugy's trainer Gary Moore, bid for an emotional victory in the maiden hurdle.

Plumpton 2.00 card and betting

It will be his first racecourse visit since Covid and Brough Scott, who edited Fisher's book, said: "The horse has got a good chance and it would be tremendous if he could win.

"Everybody has stories of how rotten it was for them when they were locked down but try being locked in.

"But what's extraordinary about him is that his basic sense of humour and status as the best man at the party are still there.

"On the walls are pictures of him winning competitions as a farrier, jumping huge fences and him at Cheltenham and that's still the man in the bed. He is an affirmation that the human spirit is an extraordinary thing."

Mark Of Gold, who will be ridden by 3lb claimer Niall Houlihan, was a dual 1m2f winner on the Flat for Richard Hannon and faces 12 rivals as he bids to go one place better than when second in a novice hurdle over Wednesday's course and distance at the start of the month.

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