Racing: Royal triumph as calamity reigns: Whispering Steel ejects his rider at Haydock and sets up victory for a rival who is now aimed at Aintree glory - A riderless horse plays a chaotic role in an eventful steeplechase. Greg Wood reports

THREE jumped the last together in the Tommy Whittle Chase at Haydock yesterday, but though the favourite, Whispering Steel, quickly put the result beyond doubt, his backers went unpaid.

Their betting slips hit the floor along with Neale Doughty, Whispering Steel's jockey, who had been thrown from the saddle when his mount met the fourth-last like a novice. Whispering Steel continued riderless, and two fences later almost carried out Robbie Supple and Very Very Ordinary.

Supple then switched inside but this, it seemed, was personal. Whispering Steel now moved right, and at the last jumped across Very Very Ordinary, who fell. Gambling Royal was left clear, but most observers were sure that Supple's mount would have won with a clear run.

That erratic jump by Whispering Steel was but the last in a series. He is normally a fluent fencer but yesterday climbed over the obstacles with an unhappy air reminiscent of Carvill's Hill. With four course victories to his credit, Whispering Steel could hardly have been unsettled by Haydock's drop fences and his performance mystified his trainer, Gordon Richards.

'I was disappointed that he kept jumping right, he's never done it before,' Richards said. 'I've been to see him in the stables and he's as sound as a bell. The plan is that he'll still go for the Rowland Meyrick Chase (at Wetherby's Christmas meeting). I have not lost faith in Whispering Steel, he is still a potential star as far as I am concerned.'

The good fortune enjoyed by Gambling Royal was not out of place, since the gelding was returning to competition after a 312-day absence due to injury. He is entered for the Welsh National at Chepstow on 28 December, and David Nicholson, his trainer, has long believed that the Grand National would suit him well.

Richards still had two winners in the horsebox home. One Man took the novice chase, while Last 'O' The Bunch stopped Viking Flagship's winning sequence at six in the Leigh Handicap Chase. His Jinxy Jack, though, finished only third in the Waterloo Hurdle, which was won by Bollin William with 20 lengths to spare over Deb's Ball.

The winner will now go to Ascot for the Long Walk Hurdle on Saturday week. 'It will be his first attempt over such an extreme distance,' Peter Easterby, his trainer, said, 'but he has been crying out for a test of stamina.'

If Gordon Richards needed proof that faith in horses is sometimes rewarded, it was on offer at Worcester yesterday, where Barely Black took the novice chase at 50-1 on his fencing debut.

Three weeks ago, Barely Black broke the nose of his trainer, Nigel Babbage. 'He kicked me as I was brushing him down and splattered my nose across my face,' Babbage said, adding (this is not for the squeamish): 'I reset it myself as I didn't have time to go to hospital.'

Babbage is clearly not a man to bear grudges. 'You would think I would hate him after what happened,' he said, 'but I love him. I couldn't believe it when he kept getting beaten over hurdles. I think he could be quite decent.'

(Photograph omitted)