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cutting the prize money to less than the Gold Cup and King George would be sensible.
Is this TRF’s first call for a
reduction
in prize money??!
Mike
After today I don’t want to see another National in this form ever again.
I voted to modify..
firstly by reducing the field to 30 runners and secondly (and this is only IMO) by not allowing horses that have run at Cheltenham to compete in the Grand National, any other race OK but not a 4 mile slog after they have all had hard races only 3 or 4 weeks previous. A Gold Cup winner rarely wins the Grand National, we have to look back to Le’Escargot and that was in a different year and then all the way back to Golden Miller.
Little Sychronised was not a Grand National type, you only had to look at him to see that, but once again greed and ambition has lost us a promising young horse for the future the same as happened to Alverton and to One Man although that was in the Mumm Melling he still ran too soon after a success at Cheltenham.
It’s a sad day for racing, yes horses die but surely Synchronised in particular was trying to tell us something when he unshipped AP McCoy…I wish he had run like the wind, now it’s too late for him and According to Pete.
Have to hand it to King John’s Castle several years back, he just stuck his heels in and decided to be a spectator for the day…clever boy.I would say in mitigation of the Jackdaw’s team that "greed" and "ambition" are two very different things, and "little" Synchronised didn’t strike me as a Gold Cup or Lexus horse either prior to his winning of them.
That statement mainly came from my own sadness on just hearing the tragic news about Synchronised & wanting to blame it on somebody. Of course it was not the right thing to say as I do admire the work done by the Jackdaw’s team and in particular Jonjo O’Neil, so apologies on my part, and thanks for bringing it back to my attention.
At this moment in time thoughts are with all those connected with the horse. It’s been a sad day for racing, but know the horses are bred for this and accidents sadly happen.Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...In all fairness Synchronised didn’t strike me as any smaller than Neptune Collonges (certainly larger than the 15.1hh Battleship!) and having won the Midlands Grand National over heavy ground showed himself to be a true 4-miler. His connections really shouldn’t be blamed, the Grand National seemed like an obvious spot and unfortunately Becher’s does get the best of even the most careful jumpers.
I think there has been a knee-jerk over-reaction to the two deaths today
To an extent, maybe, but I’ve read a number of posts on forums today from racing fans – National Hunt fans – who say they have become increasingly uncomfortable with the Grand National over the last few years. I’m in this camp – and this year I refused to watch it. I haven’t watched a race over those fences since last year’s National – which was, for me, the last straw.
I’m with Steeplechasing – for me, it’s the fences themselves that are the problem. The homogenisation of racing has proved the National’s undoing. The race is just too different and the horses are no longer trained in a way that encourages them to cope with it – the big fences have passed their sell-by date.
I agree, reluctantly, with calls to reduce the number of runners. I think a lot of the falls are to do with horses being unsighted at the fences.
You don’t seem to have the same problems in the other races over the national fences, although I haven’t checked the data. That’d be the place to start (looking at differences with other races over the fences) then you’d get a steer on what seems to make the National more hazardous.
agree – but what doesn’t sit comfortably with me is the drainage on nh courses – ground should have been soft today …. maybe that is not the answer.
im not 100% comfortable with how quickly the ground dries out at chelt – not considering the gold cups i have been brought up on. Commercial gain to ensure racing takes place should have no place over the safety of the horses. 30 horses might be enough but these things happen. run off areas need to be organised to take horses out of the race .. end of
I’m not a fan of the National but I wouldn’t like to see it gone. I don’t see any problem with Synchronised running today. He didn’t exert himself after unseating McCoy and the fact he carried on running and jumping after his fall at Beechers gives the lie to the claim that he didn’t want to run in the race.
The run in to the first fence definitely needs to be reduced, it allows the horses build up too much speed before undertaking any jumping. I don’t think starting stalls would work with NH horses unused to them, but maybe a rolling start with vehicles like they use in trotting races which would veer off.
Lowering the fences seems to have made them more dangerous, but Steeplechasing is right about the stiffness compared to normal park fences. I’ll never forget the sight of the two Irish horses at Valentines in the Topham in 2009. I guess you create a different race totally if you change them to park fences. Would the crowd still come, would people still bet if they thought the "randomness" was gone. I’d be happy to see them changed in the morning if it meant less danger for the horses.
I agree with the RSPCA about drop fences. They aren’t fair on horses who are expecting to come down to the same level as they take off. Get rid of them.
The number of runners does need to come down especially since they’ve added the run-offs. There are too many horses of equal ability going for the same position.
At the end of the day however three horses died in the Gold Cup on the Flat at the Dubai World Cup. No matter what is done to courses there is always going to be some risk where racehorses are involved. Big and strong they may be, but they are also extremely brittle.
Can’t believe so many forumites want the race scrapped.
What would be next….and next…and next? The course has had more facelifts than the Bride of Wildenstein. http://www.news.com.au/gallery-0-1225775811566?page=1
Beggars belief to do away with this historic national event.
Zip
The Bloodhorse headline and article isn’t very flattering http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/ … horses-die
Daily Racing Form article isn’t much better http://www.drf.com/news/grand-national- … -race-nose
Thoroughbred Times didn’t even bother to write about it…
Can’t believe so many forumites want the race scrapped.
What would be next….and next…and next? The course has had more facelifts than the Bride of Wildenstein. http://www.news.com.au/gallery-0-1225775811566?page=1
Beggars belief to do away with this historic national event.
Zip
I sometimes wonder, it seems this forum would like to see the end of the whip, low grade racing, AW racing, flat racing and now any racing that causes these types of accidents – won’t leave much.
fely is right and has produced some interesting numbers, it’s law of averages and happens everywhere horses have to jump, the only way to remove the risk is to remove the sport of NH and while some people want that, most don’t.
You can make the fences smaller and reduce the field and distance but horses will still die, maybe less as it’s law of averages but they still will – but presumably that will be acceptable as it will be safer?
I think there is over reaction here and am surprised more nobody is talking about the whip use during the race, that was a big thing on this forum not so long ago, perhaps at least it shows we will soon move onto the next topic and concentrate on the flat, forgetting this till next year as usual.
I wonder why there is no outrage when there is an equine fatality on a wet Wednesday at Wincanton? Out of sight out of mind.
I don’t mind tinkering with the race. Reducing the number of runners might help. Fence alterations might help. But what happens when they do all that and there’s still a horse fatality? Will they have done enough?
If the Grand National is becoming morally repugnant, then I assume it will be phased out through lack of interest. People will stop betting on it. People will stop watching it. And as the nation is so appalled at animal exploitation, the nation will no longer eat its collective Sunday Roast the day afterwards.
Exactly and spot on!
It is the collective grief thing again, something that didn’t seem to happen as much before Princess Di’s accident, which didn’t lead to the banning of cars.
We’ve gone through the "I can’t believe" it stage and are getting through the "Anger" and "Bargaining" routines while we deal with the "Depression" bit, we’ll soon reach the "Acceptance" stage.
It’s a pack thing.
I haven’t watched it yet: I was in London so I recorded it but I don’t want to watch it any more. I wouldn’t enjoy it, and to be honest I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it much if I’d have watched it live either. I’d have been watching it throuugh gritted teeth, waiting for the carnage to happen.
I have voted for scrapping it, although I don’t think it will happen, because too much money is involved in it, but it’s a bad advert for the sport. Yes OK it’s awful when any horse dies, we all hate it but to be in such a high profile race IS worse publicity wise. And for one of the fatalities to be poor old Synchronised……
Yeah, my enjoyment of the race is rapidly decreasing. In fact, much as I love NH, I find myself increasingly happy just to see the horses get home in one piece these days in any race.
Can’t believe so many forumites want the race scrapped.
What would be next….and next…and next? The course has had more facelifts than the Bride of Wildenstein. http://www.news.com.au/gallery-0-1225775811566?page=1
Beggars belief to do away with this historic national event.
Zip
History is precisely what it should be. I’d rather watch a 2yo seller at Catterick Bridge.
I wonder why there is no outrage when there is an equine fatality on a wet Wednesday at Wincanton? Out of sight out of mind.
I don’t mind tinkering with the race. Reducing the number of runners might help. Fence alterations might help. But what happens when they do all that and there’s still a horse fatality? Will they have done enough?
If the Grand National is becoming morally repugnant, then I assume it will be phased out through lack of interest. People will stop betting on it. People will stop watching it. And as the nation is so appalled at animal exploitation, the nation will no longer eat its collective Sunday Roast the day afterwards.
That’s because a wet wednesday at Wincanton doesn’t get the massive publicity/advertising like the Grand National and so an equine fatality goes under the radar.
I’d say it’s the nature of the Grand National that stokes up emotions and feelings of racing fans and those who aren’t.
To put it into a metaphor, the GN is like the Colosseum of racing … only that the horses are the warriors having to do battle. People come out of the woodwork to witness the thrills & spills, experience the atmosphere and cheer on their gladiators. The race is never pretty and while the GN is still around, equine fatalities will, unfortunately, continue to happen
I got brought up with the grand national but yesterdays race scared me.. i couldn’t watch it again.
It is true that horses can die at any race track at any time but the reality is that the Grand National is the only race in the entire calendar where you can say before the race with complete confidence that horses will die in this race. As such it simply has to end now. I hope 2012 Grand national turns out to be the final one.
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