HORSE deaths at racecourses reach highest level for six years. This was an example of the headlines that followed the British Horseracing Authority’s publication this week of the figures for 2018, a year that bucked the trend of recent times. The glaring headlines were not, in my opinion, justified.

Don’t get me wrong. Every death of a horse, on the racecourse or otherwise, is a case of sadness for connections. Accidents, at home even more so than on the racecourse, lead to such tragedies and are to be regretted.