MARK Bradstock's Letcombe Bassett stables near Wantage were in mourning today following the tragic death of Do Rightly in the Martell Grand National.

The nine-year-old chestnut gelding broke his neck and died instantly when he took a crashing fall at the fourth fence in Saturday's Aintree marathon.

Do Rightly was the Bradstock's first runner in the National and his death has left connections devastated.

A tearful Sara Bradstock, the trainer's wife, said: "No-one has slept much here. We have lost a very, very good friend. It is a tragedy.

"The only relief is that he probably didn't know anything about it. He just jumped a bit carefully and landed on his head and died.

"It may have been the soft ground because it was very heavy, because he was a good jumper. "We are a small yard and he was the sweetest, sweetest horse and was everyone's friend. It was everyone's dream that turned into a nightmare."

Sara, who is the daughter of Channel 4 racing pundit Lord Oaksey, added that the tragedy had also hit jockey Paul Holley hard.

"It is very, very horrible for the jockey too, because you know you feel like you have done it, which is not the case at all," she said.

"It is absolutely appalling, appall-ing bad luck."

The Bradstocks believed the best of Do Rightly was still to come.

"He had a lot to prove," said Sara. "He was a good horse. He could have won some good races. He had not been very lucky over the last few years, but everything seemed to have come right.

"It knocks everyone for six. It would take a lot for us to run another horse in the National, but we have got to go on."

Do Rightly was one of three horses to die in the National. Pashto, trained by Nicky Henderson at Lambourn, was put down after falling at the first, while Pam Sly's Griffins Bar was also humanely destroyed after coming down at the fifth.

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