Mr Wannell said the townsfolk did not come out to honour the soldiers "for any political reason at all" but to pay their respects to "those who have given their lives for our freedom".

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McCoy modestly insisted he did not deserve to win the honour as much as two jockeys who missed out in the past - the Northern Irishman's boyhood hero Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori.

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The winner did not attend to claim his dubious honour - the first time a winning author has not turned up.

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"Felix did a great job and it was a great honour to work with this brave guy, " the elder man said.

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At the end we did a warm down which turned into a small lap of honour and it was great to see a small knot of Scottish fans in the crowd.

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Dr Qvortrup will suggest in a letter to The Times for publication tomorrow that, while it was "always an honour to help the press", the full content of his views did not feature in the original article.

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