Super sits, flu and photo-finish fiascos: best and worst of the jumps in 2018-19

Tiger Roll, Frodon and Paisley Park: this jumps season has not been short of moments to genuinely make the racing fan's heart soar.

However it hasn't always gone according to the Hollywood script. Here is our selection of some of the most stunning storylines in and around jump racing during 2018-19.

Frost and Sweeney sit tight

For many the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby is the start of the jumps season proper and, despite a field of only four runners, the drama wasn't long in arriving as Black Corton jumped awkwardly at the third fence, launching Bryony Frost out of the saddle.

Bryony Frost being thrown in the air from Black Corton, before recovering at Wetherby in November

When she came down, Frost was high up Black Corton's neck with neither foot anywhere near a stirrup iron, but miraculously she was back in near-total control by the time the pair left the ground at the next fence.

Definitly Red and Danny Cook took the win, but for sheer brilliance in maintaining the partnership, Frost took the plaudits and a fair share of the headlines.

However in a season marked by several acrobatic efforts, the gold medal surely goes to Mikey Sweeney, who became an internet sensation in January when briefly clinging upside down from Ask Heather following an almighty blunder at the last, before collecting himself and surging to victory at Killeagh Hunt point-to-point in County Cork.

British Racing halted by equine flu

It was maddening for the trainers and jockeys left with nowhere to run their horses – though much worse in the worry stakes for the yards directly affected – while punters found themselves climbing up the walls looking for alternative betting opportunities.

But the six-day shutdown in British racing in early February – caused when cases of the highly-contageous equine flu virus were detected at Donald McCain's yard in Cheshire – was in some senses a triumph for the scientific community and the sheer hard graft of the BHA.

Teams worked around the clock to first test and then clear tranches of the racehorse population, while the efforts the governing body went to to keep both trainers and media informed should be a model for other sports in crisis situations.

Major races such as the Betfair Hurdle were rescheduled, and at the end of shutdown, the BHA and the Animal Health Trust had gathered a huge amount of data which could be invaluable in the handling or prevention of future outbreaks of contagious diseases.

Amateur rider bans challenged

The governing body found itself on the sharp end of criticism the following month after a gruelling edition of the National Hunt Chase for amateur riders at Cheltenham concluded with stewards handing hefty bans to Rob James, Noel McParlan and Declan Lavery for "continuing to race contrary to the horse's welfare".

Only four horses completed the race and the most contentious feelings arose around the decision to ban Lavery, who finished a distant third aboard Jerrysback.

Declan Lavery successfully appealed a ten-day ban from the NH Chase at CheltenhamCredit: Alain Barr

Temperatures quickly rose on both sides of the debate, with Sir Anthony McCoy telling ITV viewers the following afternoon that he was "embarrassed for the BHA" over the banning of Lavery, while several leading trainers criticised the general direction of the authority's drive on welfare.

It therefore came as no great surprise when Lavery had his ten-day ban overturned on appeal, though the independent panel did reiterate the BHA's own position that the rules around pulling up horses on welfare grounds supercede those which instruct riders to obtain the best possible position in a race.

Clarence House affair

Altior was undoubtedly one of the stars of the season, but among his five wins, the Clarence House Chase at Ascot once again turned from a potentially mouthwatering prospect into something of a solo victory tour.

Altior finishes seven lengths clear of Fox Norton in the Clarence House ChaseCredit: Mark Cranham

One of the features of the season was the lack of rain and it is nobody's fault that conditions were not deemed sufficiently soft for Un De Sceaux to travel over in pursuit of a fourth win in the race.

More broadly, the Grade 1 scene over two miles seems to struggle to support the race in its current form in the third week of January, and both Ascot and sponsors Matchbook deserve more than the three runners the race received.

Nine of the last 11 winners of have been returned at 1-10, 1-5, 1-4, 4-9, 1-2, 1-2, 4-7, 5-4 and 11-8.

Sandown under fire for wrong post farce

Sandown's meeting the Saturday before the Cheltenham Festival was overshadowed when the judge was forced to hastily revise his decision after a photo-finish to the £75,000 EBF Final, after it emerged he had been sent the freeze frame for the wrong winning line.

The photo finish image from the first winning post which led to One For Rosie being incorrectly called the winnerCredit: Racetech

One For Rosie was initially given as the winner by a neck, but a professional punter alerted stewards to the possibility of an error, and the result was changed with initial second Third Wind being given the verdict by a short head.

While the weighed-in signal had not been given, the lengthy delay meant that plenty of on-course bookmakers had already paid out on One For Rosie.

Stipendary steward Will Hudson explained: "The photo-finish operator Racetech has two cameras which are meant to be focused on the same winning line. In this instance one camera was on each winning line."

History repeats for luckless Walsh and Benie

Annie Power's final flight fall in the 2015 OLGB Mares' Hurdle saved the bookmaking industry from a huge day one festival payout.

All going so well... Benie Des Dieux and Ruby Walsh take off with the Mares' Hurdle at their mercyCredit: Patrick McCann

While the financial stakes were not so high this time around, it's doubtful Willie Mullins or Rich Ricci could quite believe what they were watching as Benie Des Dieux crumpled on landing at almost the exact spot with the 2019 edition of the same race apparently at her mercy.

Ricci looked in shock straight after the race, trying to comprehend his lack of racing luck, and even as he was asked to defend the position of the Betbright with regard to its voiding of ante-post bets days before the festival.

"Her getting up is the most important thing," he said. "This game is tough. The fact she got up should make everyone happy. It's been a difficult week."

Ricci's luck was out, but the fall of Benie Des Dieux did present a first Grade 1 success for both Dan and Harry Skelton, as Roksana scampered up the hill to win from Stormy Ireland.

Ugly scenes at Haydock

Whatever the rights and wrongs of any of the above incidents, the most shocking scenes anywhere on a racecourse this winter were well removed from the action on the track.

Haydock: fighting spills out on to the members' lawn

A full scale brawl broke out in front of the stands at Haydock towards the end of its popular Grand National Trial card in February, with rival groups of young men exchanging punches and a young woman forced to shield her baby from the melee.

Merseyside Police made one arrest, while a course spokesman described the incident as "extremely disappointing and totally out of character with a jumps fixture".

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