They were meant to be safer - but it's been a worrying start for white obstacles

Attending my local track Stratford for last Sunday's meeting, I came away thinking there had been an unusually high number of fallers. Of the 40 horses lining up for six races over obstacles, five fell, one unseated and one refused.

You could put that down to bad jumping or misfortune but comments made by Neil Mullholland about one of his horses who did complete, Viking Ruby, possibly being distracted by the white hurdle when finishing a close second in the mares' handicap hurdle struck a chord.

Stratford was the first course to introduce white hurdles and fences instead of the traditional orange of guard rails, take-off boards and top boards. The changes were brought about after a BHA-commissioned welfare study carried out by Exeter University to make jump racing safer, which concluded that orange was not a standout colour for horses.