The great national jockey Micheal Nolan broke his silence after the death of Allen’s Celebre.
Nolan received a 10 -day ban and was strongly criticized after driving the 13 -year -old gelding on the last closure – despite having “giving”.
Celebr of Allen, an outsider 125/1 formed by Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, weakened in the late steps and collapsed after the last closure, requiring veterinary attention.
Although he seemed to make an improvement on Sunday, Celebre d’Allen died on Monday evening, which caused widespread anxiety and indignation.
Nolan told Racing Post: “It has been described that I don’t care about horses. This is what the media say, but in fact it is the opposite. I am obsessed with horses; I love them and I take care of myself deeply. I absolutely had a broken heart when the horse is dead, more than anyone can imagine.
“You never want a horse to happen to them, but he was such a sweet and kind horse. It always makes him sadrier when he arrives at a horse that is loved by everyone.
“Ten progress before the second closure, I thought I could win the Grand National, then two progress after the last, I knew that something had been wrong.
“It is how easy I went to travel so easy and you can almost see the winning post where you are, to leave it and do your best to help it; To come and get a ban and then abuse social media.
“The only thing I want people to know is that I am more upset than anyone who happened and that if I had thought for a moment that I could cost him his life or cause him a bad injury, then I would never have jumped the last.
“They passed me faster than I wanted after the last second and the reason why I sat on him was to let him go and assess if he had enough energy and momentum to jump the last.
“I would not have wanted him to get a fall and he jumped well. It was just the stride immediately after the last time I was trying to get away, I could say that he couldn’t give me anymore.
More to follow.
