THE trivia of racing Twitter gave some pleasant relief in these awful times this week when a merry-go-round of picking four horses that meant a lot to you, took off,

If you are more than a few decades in this pursuit, there are just so many to choose from. Do you go back to childhood when simple desires sought a Black Beauty lookalike to engage with? Crisp and Captain Christy fitted the bill with white stars on their foreheads.

Then there were the ones you followed because you were taken by a big flashy white face like The Minstrel. Those, like Jack Of Trumps, that got to you because they so often let you down and you just wanted to hear of one big win when you came home from school.

There were horses who captivated you even at a canter, like El Gran Senor gliding to the start of the 2000 Guineas and the injustice of his Derby defeat by rider error in an all too short career.

El Gran Senor

There was the ‘wishing Lester had got Ardross running just a few strides quicker in the Arc’.

What about the stand up and stare brilliance of Arazi in the Breeders’ Cup, or Frankel in the Guineas? And the attraction of a far-away horse, following Cigar’s unbeaten run in the US in the 1990s, and disappointment when it ended. Those who had longer careers understandably lifted your spirits more. Horses you’d ditch your friends for and stay in to watch, having latched on to their brilliance and back stories – Dawn Run, Desert Orchid, Danoli, Istabraq, they made your heart beat faster and brought tears of joy in success, uplifting even in your lower moments of life.

I’ve considered it well by now, and finding just four is impossible. Here’s six who made me the happiest in one victory: Monksfield (second Champion Hurdle), Night Nurse (Mandarin Chase), Dawn Run (Gold Cup), Desert Orchid (Gold Cup), Danoli (Sun Alliance Hurdle), Istabraq (third Champion Hurdle).

IT’S been a bleak week as the sun shone brighter than at anytime this year and heralded the longer evenings. But instead of thinking of summer meetings, we had news of further deaths, impending hardships and racing suspended.

Then, amid masses of job losses, the news was broken that the daily racing industry newspaper, the Racing Post, was suddenly to cease printing for the foreseeable future.

While we often engaged in ‘our front cover is better than yours’ office banter, we are all united in a shared desire to share tales of the galloping horse.

We have many friends in their Dublin and London offices, and we wish everyone affected all the best and hope they are back soon.