How far is 0.05 of a length?

Just how far is 0.05 length?

Is it a short half head? A nostril? The infinitesimal distance between the nod of one horse’s head and another?

Is it a losing bet? The difference between first and second?  Or the desire to crown a worthy stallion with his first Group One winner?

Perhaps it has more to do with prize money? Or the mixed emotions of watching two great horses fight out the finish of an equally great race … and the numbing disbelief in waiting for the results of the photo and seeing that the number posted in the frame isn’t yours?

I suspect it is all of these things.

Saturday’s R1m Aryan Asphalt Gr 1 S A Classic witnessed an epic struggle between Divine Jury and Kahal’s son - Emperor Napolean . The Emperor missed his Group 1 triumph by exactly that 0.05 length margin, with another Summerhill bred - the highly fancied Pick Six (by the ill fated Rambo Dancer) running third.

Second (by a hair’s breath) and third … both Summerhill breds. Can’t argue with that, but one can still be forgiven for watching the race finish another hundred times and then going up to the stallion paddock and leaning on the fence and watching the King graze for a good hour and wondering “if only …” 

Congratulations to the trainers and connections of all the horses - it was certainly a race to remember.