sport

Williams: Focus on positives

Evan Williams reports his three runners to be fine after Saturday's John Smith's Grand National at Aintree.

Cappa Bleu did best of Williams' trio, finishing fourth, while State Of Play and Deep Purple both failed to get round.

The Llancarfan trainer reports them all to be none the worse for their exertions.

"They are absolutely fine, no problems at all. They are as sound as a pound and have eaten everything up," he said.

"Cappa Bleu ran a fantastic race and was given a very good ride. He got murdered on two or three occasions and did well to stand up and finish fourth only beaten 12 lengths.

"They will all go out in the field now, that's them finished for the season.

"I've not talked with the owners about what we are going to do. I'll discuss with them over the next week or two about plans and take it from there."

Williams feels the emphasis should be on the positives from Saturday's race rather than the negatives.

"Unfortunately horses pay the ultimate price sometimes," he went on.

"Horses and ponies in livery yards and riding schools and farms across the country, they die and nobody writes a thing about them.

"It's part and parcel of what happens with horses and livestock in general. I'm a farmer and it happens. Let's not beat ourselves up too much with the race.

"Nobody was sadder than I was. I feel for all of the connections, but the truth of the matter is it's a great race and it was fantastic yesterday.

"Let's talk about the positives. We had a grey horse win, trained by a champion trainer who has won the championship again by winning his first National.

"We had Katie Walsh crossing the Melling Road on Seabass, looking like she was going to win for her father. It was a great, great race with some wonderful stories. Let's not be negative."