“I must admit, I have never had a horse diagnosed with having had it before,” Marsh told the Herald.
“And because of that, I really didn’t know that much about it.
“I do now and it might explain why we didn’t see the best of her but we aren’t going to use that as an excuse.
“The bottom line is she was healthy, safe, sound and happy this morning [Sunday] and that is what matters most.”
The thumps is one of those racing terms you hear from time to time but most people don’t really know what it means, apart from the fact it definitely doesn’t help.
In veterinary science, it is known as Synchronous Diaphragmatic Flutter, which, explained as simply as possible, means the horse’s diaphragm spasms, sometimes in rhythm with the heartbeat.
It has a similar effect to repeated hiccuping in humans and in severe cases the convulsions caused are so extreme that a thumping noise is produced, hence the name.
Marsh says he was stunned that he could hear the thumps post-race on Saturday then relieved when Well Written recovered so quickly.
It is impossible to know whether the previously unbeaten darling of New Zealand racing having the issue was the reason she raced below her best in the Epsom but the trademark dazzling acceleration definitely wasn’t there when a sizeable gap presented itself at the 300m mark.
Well Written did do some pinballing, floating left and hitting a rival then reacting by moving right to hit another but she still looked a winning chance at the 150m until the swoopers arrived late, headed by deserved winner God’s Window.
Well Written’s sprint may have been dulled by the softish Randwick track but she may also have been beaten fair and square by horses better than the ones she has been racing back here in New Zealand.
Put simply, she wasn’t terrible, still beating home favourite Autumn Boy, but she hardly looked the equine jet she has racing here.
So the only way to work out where Well Written really sits in the transtasman pecking order is to go again, which is exactly what Marsh and her owners will do in the A$10m Golden Eagle back at Randwick on October 31.
“There is no point worrying about Saturday now and to a degree, the pressure comes off a bit,” Marsh said.
“The Golden Eagle is very much still the target and that will be back against 4-year-olds and at set weights.”
It will also see a drop back from Saturday’s 1600m to 1500m but, dauntingly, a clash with Australia’s sensational 4-year-old mare Sheza Alibi, who sat alongside Well Written reputation-wise starting last autumn but has produced several world-class performances since.
Can Well Written beat the best version of Sheza Alibi in the Golden Eagle? Almost certainly not.
But four weeks is a long time in racing and a lot can change between now and October 31.
Racing is full of surprises and detours – as Marsh and the Well Written fan club found out on Saturday.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.