Emma Lavelle says that she can tell you every detail, every moment of the Grand National last year, and absolutely she can. For that was the day that she lost Eclair Surf. There were two horses that died from running the National last year and Eclair Surf was one of them. This is what it is like to lose a horse.I am wondering to what extent, if at all, trainers such as Lavelle might have programmed themselves to shut down emotional reactions, whether they see death on the racetrack as part of the business, sad but undeniable. Can you accept it and just move on?Part of her answer is when she shows us where in the yard it was that Eclair Surf lived. “You come back to an empty stable,” she says, taking it in. “Another horse will fill that box but you don’t just replace horses.”
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