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What did we make of the 2024 National?
I’d give it a solid 8 to 8.5.
Glorious Merseyside sunshine, first time start, no fallers, no serious injuries, plenty in contention two or three out. A proper race unlike a last-man-standing survival contest it has been on occasions in the past.
I’d say the new changes were all OK. Yes, it is not the test it once was but would anyone really argue that we should go back to the fences and layout in days of yore? In particular, Bechers was iconic admittedly but surely an unfair fence. The drop on the landing side was no more than a trap that horses couldn’t have expected.I don’t think there was anything not to like about it. maybe I’m underselling it at 8?
I’m not really a fan of this race but did enjoy it the finish was fantastic unlike any National finish I can recall. I think moving the first and the “standing” start helped but time will tell. 4pm start time definitely approve of this.
I agree 8-9/10.The things I want most in life are the things that I can't win.
I’d give it a nine. You’ve already explained what made it such an enjoyable race.
Would have been a ten if I had backed the winner.
I think 8 is just about right. You had a race where everybody got a decent run for his money, no hard-luck stories, many horses in contention going to the third last, no serious injuries, no loss of equine lives, no false starts. A race with lots of quality horses, even though there might be divided opinions about an Irish National, Drinmore and GN winner’s jumping. Well, what happens if he’s even more fluent over his fences? Could he become a multiple winner of the race?
I hope no more changes will be made and less attention will be paid to the ones opposing the race.
Well Gladders, you should have read my posts inside the Drinmore2023 thread
But, I think vikingflagship was way ahead of me and mentioned him a month earlier….
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There is whole heap of difference between what the fences were, and what they have now become.
It’s now a race where poor jumpers can consistently feature and have a relative burn-up over the last couple of fences. The number of horses in contention doesn’t make it a great race – anyone remember a two-horse race between Red Rum and Crisp – just a reflection of making the fences easier and easier.
If you need to make these sort of drastic changes because horses may die from jumping obstacles, then how can you justify the sport at all?
Up until recently, I would have agreed with you, Stilvi.
But the long-term survival of racing depends upon public perception, rightly or wrongly, and yesterday’s race was about as good an advert for the sport as anyone could have wished for.
7/10. It is still a horse race. Aintree was still packed out and I expect the viewing figures and betting turnover were still good.
It does sadden me a bit that the unique essence of the race has gone. It is not really a spectacle or the same test of horse and rider and courage now. It is just another race. It also looks like it may become dominated by the big stables and horses at the head of the market. The drama and unpredictability of the old race is gone. The most incident packed race yesterday was run earlier in the afternoon at Chepstow.
On the plus side, I thought the 4pm start time was much better and getting rid of the parade was long overdue. Nick Luck was complaining today that there was insufficient time between the previous race and the National to preview the feature race properly but that does not bother me.
As for Aintree as a whole, I give it 9.5/10. The meeting goes from strength to strength. I thought the course looked fantastic when I was there on Thursday. The last race each day is a bit weak but at least you can leave before if you prefer.
The race itself about 6. Held interest most of the way and the winner is very good. He wouldn’t have made the second circuit 12 years ago but if we want flimsy obstacles there you are.
4pm start was better.
A depressing outcome in terms of who grabbed the over bloated spoils. If the Jockey Club need to reduce prize money start with this. If some decide they wont take part if there’s a reduction I don’t care.
StIll too much dead wood from the big stables.
If there’s one tradition I’d like to see gone it’s the early announcement of the weights.
6 out of 10.
The race isn’t a test of jumping or stamina any more. The fact that twenty horses were in a bunch before the sprint for home tells you this. The race is now going to be dominated by grade 1 horses from the bigger stables.
Why were there no reserves? It’s bad enough that we no longer see the spectacular sight of forty horses flying over the fences without an extra two coming out.
I agree CAS re the meeting as a whole. I was there for the first two days. The quality of the racing was superb. It’s so easy to move round the facilities and everyone was very helpful.
I just wish I had managed to back a winner over the two days. Just one
Agree Patriot1, and all the bowing down the do to please the anti brigade will never make them happy.
Yes none where lost yesterday, but racing is racing there is no risk free not even in flat races.
So what will they do when and it will happen again that a horse is lost on the Grand National.
Only a number rof year back they where saying a success with changes they had made then after few years 0 losses. But then it happened as can any race, or even anywhere not just racing.
I thought same as you like watching long distance Gold cup and when you see amount who where in it at the last. We won’t see many of the stories it once created from Aldaniti, Red Rum etc that made the Grand National unique. We have lost those days nowVf x
It is not about appeasing the antis, they will never be convinced that racing is humane just as nobody here will ever be convinced that it is cruel. Both are opinions and both are valid.
These two groups of people are relatively small minorities at either end of the argument. There is a much larger cohort in the middle who could be persuaded either way, that is who needs to be convinced by the changes and yesterday may well go some way to doing that.
The public as a whole is not generally interested in banning things that bring enjoyment to millions for no good reason and if they think that racing has taken meaningful steps that work then they will be happy to let it carry on. Any right minded person accepts that racing cannot ever be risk-free but strike the right balance between risk and safety and all will be well.
Yes, racing must be careful not to water its product down too far but to carry on as things were would have been to accelerate the decline of the sport.
Overall, I agree with Gladiateur’s assessment of things.
I lost interest weeks ago when it became clear that Irish trained horses would make up 80% of the runners. I can’t help wondering what the reaction would be in Ireland if the Galway Plate was run this year with 80% of the runners trained in England.
So no score from me, I didn’t even watch it. But one anomaly is clear from the result. The winner ran from a mark at least 5lbs lower than his current Irish chase rating – because he won his most recent race a few days after the pointless lunch at which the weights are announced. This sort of thing might have been acceptable in 1924, but it’s a farce now when modern communication methods would easily cope with either a later publication of the weights, or a provision for the handicapper to apply a penalty for improved form after publication. This system works perfectly OK for the Melbourne Cup, so don’t tell me it couldn’t be used for the National.
Pity really as the first two days at Aintree were the best NH racing of the season to date. The shuffling of the program on Saturday that saw the Grade 1 2M novice chase run an hour after the National should see somebody sacked.
“If you need to make these sort of drastic changes because horses may die from jumping obstacles, then how can you justify the sport at all?”
I will give it 1 out of 10 and agree with stilvi’s post. Red Rum will be turning in his grave.
The fences are a joke and it’s just another race albeit with great prixe money. A former poster on this forum Lekha stated that they were driven by the data to decrease fence eleven by a couple of inches. Why have they not similarly driven by the data to increase other fences were they have few or no fallers? such as the less than iconic Bechers Brook? Not one faller at BB in the last 5 runnings of the National.I shan’t be defending jump racing to anyone anymore.
You’re very generous Yeats. 0 out of 10 from me, simply because the race called ‘The Grand National’ no longer exists. CAS, in an earlier post, suggested renaming a certain fence. How about ‘TOFKAB’ (‘The Obstacle Formerly Known As Becher’s’)?
Maybe some would prefer the old Bechers I’m not sure Dark Ivy and Alverton (I could name others) would agree. Isolated instances, maybe but the test of this fence was unpleasant viewing unless those are your kicks.
The things I want most in life are the things that I can't win.
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