Racing shutdown comes as total shock and scuppers Al Dancer hopes

You never know what's around the corner in racing.

On Wednesday night I went to bed hoping to ride a couple of winners at Doncaster the following afternoon. By the time I had woken up, racing in Britain had been cancelled on Thursday owing to an outbreak of equine flu and later that afternoon it was announced there would be a total shutdown for at least six days.

The PJA sent a text to every jockey at 11.30pm on Wednesday telling them what had happened. Of course, I had long fallen asleep by then, so it was a total shock to read the text first thing in the morning.