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They genuinely seem to believe that once racing is banned, all the ex racehorses will be able to happily run free in rewilded fields.
WD to those who backed I am Maxiumus.
Terrible edition for me. None of my selections made it past the first circuit.
Good to hear that Mac Tottie is out of the equine hospital and back at Peter Bowen’s yard. Let’s hope he makes a full recovery.
I thought they must have gone quite slow as so many were still in contention at the business end and they seemed quite well grouped throughout, could be another factor in why there weren’t any fallers. I haven’t seen sectionals to back that up just the impression I got watching on TV. Maybe it was just the changes they’ve made.
I wonder if the cancellation of the x-country race at Cheltenham had a bearing on the result of those behind the winner, as mentioned on another forum. It may have helped Delta Work, Minella Indo and Galvin run as well as they did. If the edge would’ve been taken off them if they ran at Cheltenham on that extremely testing ground, as De Bromhead hinted after the race with his horse, the first 5 would’ve been…
I Am Maximus 8
Kitty’s Light 8
Aint That A Shame 10
Meetingofhtwaters 7
Galia Des Liteaux 8Younger horses dominating and I’d have some of the placed ones as well as the winner in this instance.
I’m torn.
My head says this was an excellent race, in which it was great to see the quality horses come to the fore. It was obviously good for racing’s image that all the runners came back safe, and that so many people had a fantastic run for their money, with a host of horses in with a shout turning for home.
My heart says this just didn’t feel like a proper Grand National. The race that was hard, gruelling, attritional. The race over fences that were unique, formidable barriers that couldn’t be easily brushed aside. For me, as Tom Hanks once said, the hard is what made it great.
I know my head should win this argument. I can see it’s me who’s got to change and get with the new order. I do fully accept that.
But my heart will still ache just a little that we will probably never view again the sort of spectacle that made the Grand National such a special event.
Broadsword, I agree entirely. It was a good race to watch. No one wants to see lots of fallers and it is clearly good that all the horses and riders returned safely. But it isn’t really the Grand National anymore. It is just another long distance chase. The uniqueness and essence of the race has gone now. It was a test of jumping, now it isn’t.
When I visited Aintree on Thursday, I couldn’t help noticing that over one of the entrances there is still a silhouette of a horse jumping the old Bechers, with its front legs outstretched and back end up high as it takes the drop. Bechers has gone now, they jump it like a hurdle. Maybe it had to change but the fence should really be renamed and the image over the entrance changed.
I didn’t mind one or two of the early changes to reduce the deaths but they have been tweaking it a zillion times since. I heard they cut a bit off the top of a fence after the Thursday race.
Victim of its own coverage really. Barely a word muttered when the Becher etc are run over the same fences. The race Chambard won earlier in the season can’t remember which one it is but that was brutal to watch but no protests or changing bits around. Horses get killed at racecourses up and down the country, some even on the flat that’s the harsh reality but if we’ve fixed the National then we’ve fixed everything. That’s the ludicrous side to the protesting, its all about getting them coverage too because nobody cares if they’re protesting at Bangor on a Tuesday or wherever.
Funnily enough re the X Country mob doing so well, the National resembles a X Country race more than any other National these days with the fences. You don’t want a good jumper you want a nutcase who has no respect for ordinary fences because they can just walk through the birch etc unscathed.
Haven’t yet seen the exits at the Chair from a better angle but it looked like Mr Incredible’s unseat was from being hampered. I’d like to have seen how he’d have done at the finish.
Yes broadsword agree it didn’t feel like a real Grand National especially so many jumping last
Maybe they should think of renaming it The Aintree stayers Chase.VF x
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