The owner of Cloth Cap says he shares the disappointment felt by many punters from the Isle of Man who backed the horse which had to be pulled up in the Grand National.

But island businessman Trevor Hemmings praised jockey Tom Scudamore for the way he acted quickly to ease Cloth Cap up when he realised there was something wrong with his breathing.

The 11-2 favourite had been ridden prominently and travelled well before being pulled up quickly three fences from home.

Mr Hemmings had been bidding to set a record as the event’s most successful owner with a fourth win in the Aintree race.

Cloth Cap’s trainer, Jonjo O’Neill, said: ’Tom said he was going along grand and then he just started gurgling a little bit and he did the right thing pulling him up.’

Speaking from his base at the Ballaseyr stud in the north of the island Mr Hemmings told the Examiner that as a precautionary measure the nine-year-old was going to be examined by an equine vet called Ben Brain, based in the Cotswolds.

Mr Hemmings said: ’Cloth Cap is alright but we are going to have the throat inspected. We were very unlucky, it involved the flap in the larynx that goes over the windpipe. I’m told the chances of it happening were something like a thousand to one. Jonjo O’Neill said it was called a choke.’

Mr Hemmings said: ’We had a very experienced jockey in Tom Scudamore and the only thing he could do, in the interests of the horse’s health, was to ease him out of the race.

’The jockey said that he wasn’t going to put the horse through anything in the way of pain for the sake of winning a race. That was a nice thing for him to do.’ Mr Hemmings stressed that ’Cloth Cap is safe and sound’.

And Jonjo O’Neill posted a picture of the horse in the yard at Jackdaws Castle in the heart of the Cotswolds, with the message: ’Cloth Cap enjoying the sunshine this evening. Thank you for all of the kind messages.’

Mr Hemmings said: ’It was disappointing obviously for me as the owner and for the many people who backed him. But this is the risk we face in horse racing.’

He recalled how Hedgehunter fell at the final fence in the National the year before he went on to win the famous race in 2005 with top jockey Ruby Walsh on board.

Mr Hemmings, aged 85, notched up two further victories with Ballabriggs in 2011 and Many Clouds in 2015 .

He added he still aimed to achieve the record for the winning-most owner: ’I will get that fourth victory but I will just have to be a bit more patient.’

He predicted Cloth Cap will be back in action next season.

His other horse in the race, Lake View Lad, fell at the first fence, but it is understood the horse is fine.

The race was won for the first time by a woman jockey, Rachael Blackmore, on Minella Times. Mr Hemmings said he was ’delighted for the young lady that won’.