“Thankfully all horses are reported safe – you can imagine Monday’s headlines if Quai de Bourbon or Top of the Bill had not got up. Aintree have done all that they can, but you cannot eliminate risk — as racing lovers we as fans accept that as to all participants and owners – but there remain plenty who don’t.”
Although we do accept the risks BurrougHillLad and have an understanding of the sport, I do question the feelings of the masses in between us the supporters and the other end of the spectrum, the antis.
The papers are fickle, it’s news today and onto something else tomorrow and social media to a large extent the same.
The people we work and socialize with I believe are fairly indifferent. They don’t like to see any horses injured or die, but they also don’t have a vested interest either. Look at the people attending Aintree, especially today. So many were there for the day and have a good time and if there had been a fatality, how many wouldn’t attend again?
None will be talking about Gold Dancer next week, let alone next year.
That doesn’t mean the sport can be complacent, or ignore political comment and activists, but it has to accept that it can only do so much in the name of horse welfare without removing all the fences completely…..and even then it won’t stop fatalities. Gewan as a recent example.