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I would give the National 0.1 out of 10. The rest of the meeting on the Mildmay I would give 8. Best race by far was the Aintree Hurdle.
The National itself really has become a glorified flat race with the odd inconvenience along the way. A bit like an equine 3000 metre athletics steeplechase.
Those working in the racing media and working within the sport have a vested interest to talk it up and didn’t they rush forward to say how wonderful it was. To me it’s a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes. You’re not fooling me.
The National course wouldn’t test a 2 mile novice chaser. It had the appearance of the virtual Grand National during Covid. 78 runners and 2 fallers and they were in the Foxhunters and both at The Chair. No doubt they’ll lower that and remove the ditch in time.
The race that not so long ago tested a horses ability to jump and stay an extreme distance. Making the fences irrelevant is a bit like removing the goalposts from a football match. Imagine making The Derby a mile race on a straight mile and saying it’s still The Derby.
There was no drama, no adrenaline rush, no wow factor. There was no story. A trainer with 8 runners and owner who had 5 runners who had won it before when mob handed. If you love the borefest that is F1 you’ll love this new ‘modern’ National for those new ‘modern’ audiences.
One day all this back slapping whilst backing themselves into a H&S corner is going to backfire big time for NH racing. I’ll be back to say I told you so.
“2 fallers and they were in the Foxhunters and both at The Chair. No doubt they’ll lower that and remove the ditch in time.”
It looks to me like the height of the fence has already been lowered.
The plastic fences are clearly a lot lower than their predecessors and the fences were starting to drop in size officially and unofficially since the 1980 Grand National when 4 out of 30 finished.
I wish they would report publicly the actual fence sizes and then the height of the dressings on top.
And will they stop calling the dressed hurdles Bechers, Chair, Valentines etc. They were from a bygone era of barbaric cruelty. Let’s rename them The Snowflake, Fluffy Brook, and Steer after the man who destroyed the whole history of the race by changing the distance.
” Imagine making The Derby a mile race on a straight mile and saying it’s still The Derby.”
You don’t have to imagine it, as the first four runnings of the Derby were staged over a mile on a more or less straight course that joined the current one at the 5F start. It only changed to 1M 4F on the current course in 1784.
Astral, that’s an interesting comment you made about the fences post the 1980 renewal (heavy ground that year didn’t help). I must say that I didn’t notice much change in them until 1986, when the last two fences were clearly softer than before, a development I actually had no problem with as there used to be carnage when they were fences one and two in the Topham/Foxhunters.
For those of you who are saying that the National is bland or boring in its current form, what types of race do you enjoy more generally?
The National remains a highly competitive handicap with a huge field, contested by top-class horses. I appreciate it is not the race of old, but some of these responses seem extreme to me. Similarly the “I’d prefer to scrap the race altogether” comments.
Thank you AP. I love racing history so that was really interesting. My point still stands about the National and at what point is it no longer the National? I feel we probably passed that point over a decade ago.
Part of me now would sadly prefer this once truly great and dramatic sporting event be confined to the history books, or perhaps it already has. It just continues to carry the false Grand National moniker.
Marlingford, I am not at all suggesting the race be scrapped, simply renamed. It ain’t The Grand National any more and we should take that on board. ‘The Paddy Power BetwithITV Grand Merseyside Handicap” (‘Chase’ optional) is my recommendation
For me, I miss the race of old, which was the sternest jumping test of them all, but I’m happy that the modern Grand National is much safer for horses and jockeys alike. We have to move with the times but in no way should we pander to the uneducated and ill-informed masses. The race requires no further amendments other than to possibly limit trainer/owner runners and apply a couple of qualifying restrictions to ensure there are no questionable stayers in the final field.
To answer the question, I’d score it an 8. Take the winner out, who was incredibly impressive, and we’d have been treated to a pulsating finish between some old favourites.
I would prefer the Grand National to be a through test of jumping ability and stamina. What it was for the most part for 173 years.
The race should never have been reduced in distance. That consigned all previous runnings & records to the history books.
The fences should remain a fair challenge. The pendulum has swung to a ridiculous level where 1544 fences jumped last week by all 78 horses over the National fences resulted in 2 falls (0.1%). That is not a challenge at any level let alone the National where it was a key component.
And before another person uses the cheap jibe “you like seeing horses fall?” and what about “horse welfare” trying to make out anyone who loves jump racing gets some sadistic pleasure when a horse falls utterly misses the point.
If jumping racing isn’t about jumping and the skill of the horse in getting from one side of a fence to the other what exactly is it about? A horse that falls does not equal instant fatality.
Properfences (great username by the way, there’s no ambiguity on where you stand!) – I genuinely feel the same sense of loss as you do when thinking back to what the race used to be. The National is something I’ve been passionate about for as far back as I can remember.
It has changed no end over the past two centuries though, and I reluctantly see the latest changes as another necessary part of that. It’s still the National as far as I’m concerned, just about! 🙂
Many thanks Marling. I admit, I do get a bit uppity about the race and how it has changed, but good to hear that we are both inveterate Nationalites!
A little context… I remember walking around the course, for the first time, in late March 1984, just a week or so before the National meeting (it wasn’t a’festival’ then!). I had travelled over to Liverpool for a Civil Service interview, having never been outside N Ireland before. I got the interview over with (I was successful, btw!), then got travel advice from brilliant Liverpool transport staff, jumped on an Ormskirk bus and headed to my Field of Dreams. In those happy times there was NO security, so I walked unhindered right through to the course itself. First reaction…’Wow, there’s The Chair’. The fences were all dressed and ready for action, apart from fences 29 and 30. I walked right round to the National start and then down to Becher’s itself. Ground staff were busy trimming the fences’ spruce dressing (they seemed to take so much trouble and the fences were built to last in those days), but not so busy that they couldn’t take time for a chat. Most were locals and were just as besotted with the place as I was. What a happy day.
It’s a 7/10 from me. Fairly enjoyable but not what it was, but (I suspect like most of you) I’ve been feeling that way about it for a while so it’s not fully about the most recent changes.
I do agree with what Peter is saying about finding a way to bring the reserve system back. The field is already reduced by six runners, surely there is space to accommodate reserves if they want to take the chance of a place opening up at the last minute. However, the cynical part of me suspects it was altered as a back door method of reducing the field size further and therefore they won’t be interested in this. I would love to be proved wrong but they didn’t even try to make it work.
Thinking about it I suppose they had to reduce the numbers because with more horses completing the course there would have been a lot of horses jumping The Chair. What is sad is that good jumpers were rewarded by being able to stick to the inside of the track but now it’s no different to the outside. Grand National day used to be my favourite day of the year; the only time I remembered what it was like to be a child again. I always bought myself a packet of digestive biscuits as a special treat. Used to feel really down afterwards knowing that I’d have to wait another year. Then, over the years I found it best not to mention the race to people because instead of people asking which horse to back I’d get the ‘it’s cruel’ comments. It also started to go downhill when Eddie the Shoe stopped giving his excellent tips for the race in The Observer; I so looked forward to reading them the Sunday before the race. Then the racing section of the paper got so small I struggled to find it. But maybe it’s because I’m just getting old and grumpy!
Grand National is not what it was. But it is not a choice between having a 1980’s National and a 2024 National. I firmly believe it is a choice of having NO National at all or a 2024 National… And once the Grand National goes then Jumps racing as a whole will soon follow.
I became interested in Racing because of Red Rum and the Grand National of the 70’s and 80’s.
But if the 70’s or 80’s National was run today, I would not become a Racing Enthusiast. In fact I might even have campaigned for its closure. Times have changed and the way the British public think about animals has changed… And by that I mean the Public and not the so called “animal rights” brigade.
Thought Ruby Walsh did a pretty good explanation of why the new rules were brought in.Do think it is too soon to be saying they are a success though. This Grand National was not typical of even recent renewals. Being run slower and therefore – even by today’s standards – less emphasis on both stamina and jumping ability.
Fences are (rightly imo) easier to jump and the fact there were no fatalities is a good sign. But there is a balance to be had. Making them too easy could cause its own problems if the fences are not respected. The fact winner I Am Maximus went into the race as one of the worst jumpers in the field may entice others with poor jumpers in future years to take a chance… And that may lead to more fatalities.
The second, third and fourth had their handicap marks dropped for being tenderly handled and / or given poor rides and / or racing when unfit and / or finishing lame over the Cheltenham X Country course earlier in the season. The Hanndicapper feeling the need to drop horses for no real reason can only be bad for the race.
Obviously going around the inner was the shortest way from A to B, but looking at the result makes me wonder whether the inner was also a sounder, faster surface than the middle and outer. Even allowing for fewer runners there seemed a lot of room in yesterday’s race too. If trainers believe they have to race around the inner in future Grand Nationals then more overcrowding will occur and more horses being brought down.
Then there’s the Irish problem. One or two races where the Irish clean sweep is not a problem, but when it gets to most years and most years them having the numbers they did in 2024 (particularly when it’s just two stables dominating… And the fact those two sables seemed to run horses with little chance. It will soon be seen as not the British Public’s race. Something needs to be done.
So for some aspects this year’s Grand National could score highly, in others aspects lowly. So can’t really give a mark.
Value Is Everything“The fact winner I Am Maximus went into the race as one of the worst jumpers in the field may entice others with poor jumpers in future years to take a chance… And that may lead to more fatalities.”
Isn’t there some sort of committee which assesses if a horse is a good enough jumper to take part?
I agree entirely with Astralcharmer’s post about the fences and the cheap jibes of those who imply defenders of the old Grand National only want to see fallers.
National Hunt racing (and the Grand National in particular) should be a test of jumping. If it isn’t, what is the point of it?
The main mistake is what has been done to Bechers. There was a case for making the ground on the landing side flatter and covering the brook. But getting rid of the drop has robbed the race of its signature fence. Does anyone even notice the fence now? It looks like all the others.
In the old National, if you had backed one and it was in contention there was a sense of nervous anticipation as the field approached Bechers. Whether people like it or not, that was a key feature of the race. That has now completely gone – the runners jump it like a brush hurdle. Without that sense of drama, the race is diminished.
What we have now is a sanitised Grand National for an age where feelings and emotion now rule. It has tried to reduce risk so much that it has fundamentally changed the race and lost its essence. But risk cannot be removed entirely. At Hereford on Sunday, a horse was leading in the last race by several lengths and then shattered a leg on the home turn. I wondered how racing would have reacted if that had happened in the Grand National.
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