The turf | 28 February 2019

Owner Phil Simmonds from Rochdale was 17 when he first went racing, joining a friend’s stag party at Haydock Park. For years he dreamed of owning a racehorse and finally took the plunge. He bought a bumper horse called Burns Cross and placed it with Neil Mulholland, whose response appealed to him when he wrote to three trainers. A software developer, he doesn’t pretend, like some owners do, to know everything about the sport, acknowledging: ‘I love racing but I realise you can’t solve it with a computer programme.’

Last year Phil was driving to Chester races when Neil phoned. It was the kind of call every trainer hates having to make and which every owner dreads receiving. Having suffered a minor foot injury, Burns Cross had been sent to a top veterinary surgery in Newmarket for a routine operation. Anaesthetising half a ton of horse always carries risks and as poor Burns Cross came round from the operation he broke his neck and died.