Watch out for these horses next time - they lost any chance at the start at Cheltenham last week

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You get a flavour of the problems we were having at the Cheltenham Festival last week if you read through the stewards' reports and bump into this paragraph again and again:

"After an initial false start, the start was effected successfully on the second attempt. However, the starters were satisfied that no riders should be reported for contravening the starting procedures."

We start races all year round without much trouble, or at least not consistent trouble. Then we got to the festival and suddenly there were false starts for every other race.

Possibly, there was too much insistence on strict procedure and not enough allowance for the challenging circumstances, i.e. lots of jockeys, desperate to make the most of their chance on the big stage. 

It was interesting that the problem didn't last into Gold Cup day. Perhaps jockeys and officials got onto the same page by then, or there was a minor adjustment in the approach being taken by officials.

I have sympathy for all concerned because the start can make the difference between an excellent run and a dismal one. The starter aims to provide fairness for all and if someone is trying to nick a sneaky advantage, we'd all want action to be taken. 

Too much intervention, on the other hand, leads to the sport getting bogged down. There's a tightrope to be walked and it only really works if there's a good procedure in place which is understood and respected by jockeys.

Anyway, I thought there might be value in noting here the horses whose chances were mucked up by the start last week. When they next race, their latest form figure will suggest a poor effort when in fact circumstances conspired against them. There's a chance of getting a value price if the right circumstances can be found for these horses next time, maybe at Aintree or Punchestown.

I'm not claiming to have caught every horse who was disadvantaged. If you spotted another one, let us know by email to frontrunner@racingpost.com

Grandeur D'Ame (Ultima Handicap Chase)

A prominent racer for the past couple of seasons, Grandeur D'Ame was in the front rank for the first couple of attempts at a start. But he was getting more and more worked up by the time it got to a standing start and, when the tape was sent pinging across the track, he turned sideways.

It meant the loss of ten to 15 lengths, in a race where the winner made all the running. Bless him, Grandeur D'Ame worked hard on that first circuit to move up around his 23 rivals and get into the leading pack, where he stayed for about a circuit before inevitably getting tired.

Henry's Friend was another whose chance seemed to go up in smoke right away and there were arguably others.

Solness (Champion Chase)

You never saw a horse work so hard for fourth place. Solness has had a great season, making all around Leopardstown in a couple of Grade 1s, but he didn't much fancy the standing start here. He hesitated and then hesitated again at the first fence, with the result that he was soon four or five lengths off the pace he was supposed to be dominating.

Quilixios was going a fair spin out in front, so it took Solness until the start of the back straight to get the lead. Almost immediately, Energumene moved up to fight him for it.

By the time they were running downhill, Solness had already put in a pretty good shift and was tiring, but he kept battling up the final hill. There'll be other days at flatter tracks.

Primoz (Grand Annual)

"If you were connected with Primoz or if you backed him, you wouldn't be happy with this," said Nick Luck on Racing TV, Primoz having run past the first fence after a false start. A prominent racer, he had been in the front rank and evidently raring to go when the field first approached the starter.

The rest then lined up for a standing start before he was able to get back and join them. As he turned around a rail to approach the back of the pack, the tape was released and off they went with Primoz at the rear.

Just an extra couple of seconds would have given him a chance to join the front line and then maybe things would have worked out for him. As it was, he never got into it. He'd been backed down to 6-1.

Maughreen (Mares' Novices' Hurdle)

What a way to lose your unbeaten record. When they had a standing start for this novice contest, Maughreen whipped around as the tape was released and immediately lost any chance. 

She'd been a drifter in festival week to an SP of 11-1 but she'd been well fancied for the race in the ante-post market and a lot of people must have been hugely frustrated by this end to their hopes and dreams.

Wearing a hood in an effort to keep her calm, Maughreen had been in the front rank when the field approached the starter for what became the initial false start. She'd made all on her hurdling debut and Patrick Mullins evidently wanted her to be handy. 

But after blowing the actual start, she could do no more than hack around at the back.

Asian Master (Jack Richards)

Thanks to the standing start, this turned into a bit of a 'draw' race. When the tape was released, the two against the inside rail were the eventual first and second, Caldwell Potter and Anyway (125-1), soon joined at the front by O'Moore Park (66-1), who finished third.

Asian Master, tackling his first handicap, had been fourth in last year's Supreme and was fancied for this at 15-2. But he lined up widest of all and that was always going to be a tough assignment. He did pretty well to finish ninth. 

Now Where Or When (Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir)

This veteran chestnut's pink colours were up there from the get-go when he won at Down Royal in January. But all hope of trying something similar evaporated when he decided he didn't much fancy the standing start and was slowly away.

There had been a fair bit of delay by that point, including a quick vet's check of Sine Nomine, who may have been kicked. Hanging around is no fun for a horse on the edge.

Now Where Or When was unfancied at 80-1 and perhaps there is no universe in which this race would have gone much better for him. But any chance he had was lost right away and there'll be more favourable circumstances somewhere else.

Read these next:

'It's an embarrassment, there is no consistency' - Peter Scudamore slams spate of false starts at Cheltenham 

'The starter here needs a root up his backside' - Michael O'Leary slams 'bloody nonsense' Cheltenham Festival starts  

'Anyone who knows anything about horses knows it isn't going to work' - procedures slammed after Cheltenham false starts 

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