Arblaster beats the horse and his rivals

Monday 25th April 2011, 2:29PM BST.

Rob Smart (left) made a determined break for victory on the last lap, but was hauled in. (1127698)

OLD NED, out for an early Sunday morning coastal clip-clop, inadvertently gave the sprint finish to yesterday’s four-lap road race at Pleinmont a few hairy moments for both horse and bike riders.

Velo Club officials thought they had every last eventuality covered when they negotiated with Torteval farmer Frank Le Cheminant to move his herd of cows across the main Route de Pleinmont road at a precise time to avoid the big Easter peleton.

But horses were not on the agenda.

Yet, that’s what faced the sprinting finishers to a race which had again highlighted the growing depth of island race cycling with some astonishing times over four laps of the seven-and-three-quarter long L’Eree course, which has its start and finish at Pleinmont.