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I have just watched the first day’s racing from Aintree. I don’t know whether it is just my imagination but has Becher’s Brook shrunk since last year? There doesn’t seem to be any sort of drop there at all. The Chair looked very small too: some of the plain fences looked bigger than usual & there appeared to be more fallers at these than the feature fences.
I was thinking the same. Also the fences on the park course don’t seem to be as stiff as usual, which is a good thing as I used to dread seeing horses jumping them. I’d be interested to hear what any of the jockeys say about them.
I think its the camera angles on the national course ,i think there is enough drop now at Bechers to make it tricky at speed but with less risk of horses landing on their heads.
Hopefully we`ve seen the last of the likes of Beau Bob , Winter Rain and Seeandem et al dive bombing to the floor.
I was thinking the same. Also the fences on the park course don’t seem to be as stiff as usual, which is a good thing as I used to dread seeing horses jumping them. I’d be interested to hear what any of the jockeys say about them.
Yes it was always an uncomfortable watch, lost too many good horses on the Mildmay course a combination of faster ground and a lightning quick flat track .
One Man and Strong Promise to name but two top class horses lost .I think it is the flat track & the fact the ground is beginning to dry out that has caused fatalities on the park course. I remember the old Mildmay course & I think trainers lobbied to hae it removed as there were a lot of horses lost on it.
imo, the mildmay course is the stiffer fences of the lot. up there with sandown and cheltenham
Enough came to grief in the Topham to suggest that the fences are plenty stiff enough.
Watching the loose horses jumping for fun in the Topham made me question how much assistance the man on top gives when ‘looking for a stride’. It struck me that sitting motionless and letting the horse get on with it could be a good strategy.
I’m just waiting for the year they decide to miss out the Chair, Beechers and Valentines because of low sun or some other stupid PC decision.
Why not just miss outall
the jumps and have a 4m4f bumper? Better still, lets just stop having the National all together if it is being turned into a glorified handicap with green fences?
On the Morning Line Francome expressed concern about the number of casualties and type of falls in the Topham and asked whether the fences had been altered (Clerk of Course denied any changes)
Looked like two equine fatalities in the National which indicates the fences are tough enough
because of low sun or some other stupid PC decision.
How many more times….
"
PC
is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, religious belief, disability, and age-related contexts, and doing so to an excessive extent".
Seem to remember that Flash, ex of this parish, similarly decided that the abandoning of the Wednesday of the 2008 Cheltenham Festival due to high winds was a "PC decision", too. Again, it was absolutely and manifestly nothing of the sort.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I’m just waiting for the year they decide to miss out the Chair, Beechers and Valentines because of low sun or some other stupid PC decision.
Why not just miss outall
the jumps and have a 4m4f bumper? Better still, lets just stop having the National all together if it is being turned into a glorified handicap with green fences?
What total nonsense. Safety is paramount in racing and rightly so, absolutely nothing to do with being PC. They didn’t jump The fence before Bechers, and Bechers itself, today because of horses that had fallen on the first circuit. You can’t have the situation where the fences still had to be jumped as that might have made a bad situation worse.
Some guy had posted on Paul Nicholl’s Facebook page that there have been more fatalities since the modification of the fences as the horses go faster over the fences. This also seems to be the case on some of the park courses. Certainly Aintree fence modification doesn’t seem to have lessened fatalities.
I cannot understand why they didn’t water on Friday night or why they left the horse under the tarp without a screen around it?
With climate change & warm dry springs surely there is a case for returning the race to its mid march date?We’ve been discussing this on another forum; the race used to be held a week or so earlier did it not? It was uncomfortable viewing today seeing horses finishing that were so dehydrated.
The last few years have seen an April Heatwave, which is increasingly coinciding with the Grand National (think also 2007 when the National was run on the 14th or 15th if memory serves) which seems to be further evidence of Global Warmings effect on the traditional (weather) seasons.
I’m really suprised the taps stayed off (only just found out thanks to the earlier post) bearing in mind some of the temperatures we have had this week and the two deaths – which I agree were part of the mad dash that took place in the first mile – and the way horses were exhausted through dehydration made for uncortable viewing. Indeed, like the Topham & Foxhunters before, it was surely the speed which caused some sickening falls.
The problem is that to move Aintree back one or two weeks earlier – as per Moehat’s suggestion – means persuading Cheltenham to move their jamboree back to the beginning of March — which would surely be the immovable object vs the irressitible force – or have the two major jumps meeting of the UK season right on top of each other.
As for the by-passing of fences 20 & 22 (Bechers), while it was strange to see such an iconic fence missed out it was the right decision allowing the people handling the fatalities space to do what they needed to do.
RIP Ornais & Dooneys.
I don’t think there is an easy answer.The softer the ground the more of a stamina test.This years Eider and Red Marauder’s GN spring to mind.
If you go to back a certainty always buy a return ticket.
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