Beck Edmunds brought me to tears - it's people like her Elliott has let down

As the world waited last Friday for the referrals committee to deliver its verdict against trainer Gordon Elliott, I was tasked with speaking to people within racing to ask what horses meant to them.

After a week in which racing's reputation had been repeatedly dragged through the mud following the emergence of a photo of Elliott sitting on a dead horse as well as a video of amateur rider Rob James doing the same, the desire was to showcase what our sport is really about by getting those closest to the horses to talk.

We wanted the stable staff to form a key pillar in the discussion, which led me to put in a call to try to speak with Beck Edmunds, who had been named employee of the year at the Godolphin Stud & Stable Staff Awards last month.