JAMES McNEILE

More than a day on, I'm still finding the death of James McNeile from injuries sustained at Larkhill Point-to-Point last Saturday pretty incomprehensible.

He was a fifty-something genuine Corinthian in an increasingly professional sport, granted, but at the same time a fitter and more assured presence in the saddle now than at any time previously in his five-year riding career (certainly a world removed from the ungainly sight I observed in person on his third ever ride, at Woodford in 2012).

Plenty of younger riders wouldn't have had his near forty-ride experience in the saddle these past three seasons in particular, and his completion rate was improving all the time.

Nothing could have predicted this desperate outcome.  My heart goes out to all who knew and loved him.