Relieved and shell-shocked: Donald McCain is back in business with two runners

The TV cameraman who kept vigil outside Donald McCain's gate never got the shot he wanted – but then he only stayed three days.

It took three weeks for the trainer at the centre of the equine flu crisis to be told he was back in business and until then he was reluctant to emerge from his Bankhouse Stables.

Not that he was afraid of appearing on Sky News, accompanying features on his positive tests for the infection that had led racing to be shut down for six days.

Rather, he wanted to stay at the helm with wife Sian and on the eve of his first runners since the yard went into lockdown he said: "I've not been anywhere. I went to Sainsbury's the other day and that's about it. I've not been hiding, I just didn't feel like going anywhere.

"A couple of people said we should go away for a bit but it didn't seem right."

It has not always been easy for those who did face the public, however, as the man who has held the licence at this powerful Cheshire yard since 2006 recounts the experiences of staff when they entered a shop in jackets with the McCain logo.

"Some people were sympathetic but some pointed fingers, it's crazy but they'd collar lads and say 'you should be ashamed of yourselves'," he reflected. "It's people who just don't know. There was a lot of guesswork and people didn't really know what it was."

Nor was it just local news. McCain recalled: "Brendan Richardson [owner with McCain] rang me from New Zealand and I said 'I believe I'm in the New York Times' and he said I was in the paper in Christchurch too!

"I've not watched any racing, I've just seen the odd result, it's a coping mechanism. And the night it happened I took myself off Twitter.

"I haven't been reading anything but people have told me I've not had too much stick, people have said I was unlucky and the number of friends and trainers who have rung me has been quite humbling."

Donald McCain praised by BHA for rapid reporting of positive tests

But the experience has not been as painful as the sudden loss of five dozen horses owned by Paul and Clare Rooney back in 2015.

"This has been frustrating, upsetting and a hindrance but a bad day is when you have 60 horses leave that you bought, nurtured and trained for the long term," McCain said. "When you've had a day like that, it puts this into perspective.

"There were a couple of times I didn't cope very well with this, we're a family business and everyone was upset by it because we thought we were affecting everyone else. Our own situation we could deal with and the support from the owners was second to none."

It was 8.30pm on Monday that McCain got the call to say he could have runners again and he starts with Henry's Joy and The Character at Musselburgh on Wednesday.

Wednesday's Musselburgh card and betting

"It was more a relief that it was out of the way and done," he added. "My senior staff and Sian and I were a little bit shell-shocked by the whole thing. I had a bottle of champagne with Sian just because I felt we should!

"The lads and girls have absolutely worked their socks off, to the extent that in the first week a few of them had hands that were nearly raw with disinfectant. They work hard anyway but when they're working hard for what seems like no end goal and no aim it's not much fun.

"But there is a slightly twisted side to it – I've spent three weeks not disappointing any owners!"

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