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I think it’s time that Racing stood up for itself more, instead of pandering to numerous lobby groups.
There’s enough equine expertise and caring attitudes within racing these days, for British Racing to ditch the RSPCA. Do they really need their advice these days, when that organisation can’t even stop cruelty to the nation’s domestic pets?Racing now has a hardcore of support that will follow it through thick and thin – it even has enough casual followers who turn up year after year at their local track for a day out, especially on one of the family days or the big occasions. They’re not going to go away.
The National itself is so high profile it’s bound to attract attention – my 3 proposals would be
(i) to reduce numbers to 30 (i know stats says smaller number of runners may not reduce fatalities) but i’ve believed it should be reduced to that number for years – there’s often chaos, at one or two of the fences where horses are dodging fallen horses – 30 would reduce that likelihood – reduce, not get rid of the chaos completely.
(ii) Get rid of the Bechers ‘drop’ – just asking for trouble IMO
(iii) Shorten the run-up to the 1st – that just encourages horses and jockeys alike to almost sprint to the first. I know there weren’t many fallers this year at the 1st but i believe it sets the adrenalin pumping, of both horse and jockey.And remember if the National was banned/finished, the anti-racing lobby would only concentrate its resources at the next high profile race – REMEMBER there’s a rump of UK society who see this as part of an overall class war and they’re not stupid. Once they get a sniff of ‘victory’ they’ll go for the next until they’ve won the war.
The Antis, including some high profile celebs, have NO interest whatsoever in Horse Racing – they wouldn’t give a hoot if it was banned tomorrow.
The Racing industry, its followers and supporters must not give in to these people – give them an inch and they’ll want a foot….and then a yard….and so it will go on.Racing has shown itself in recent years to have woken up to its responsibilities – it has the people to police itself.
It’s our sport and i, for one, want it to stay.REMEMBER there’s a rump of UK society who see this as part of an overall class war
Really?
Now the National fences have been modified the horses are running much too fast, and I want to know where the safety nets were for horses to ‘run out’ of the race when poor Synchronised got up from his fall and was able to jump 5 more fences before Bechers where he finally fell for the last time. I still can’t get over why he ever ran at all after showing signs that he was spooked by the whole affair, but it’s too late for that now and it has thrown a shadow over the GN once more.
Synchronised fell at Becher’s. He did not fall and jump five more before it.
I have to wonder about people’s judgement and their motivation for complaining when they get simple facts like this wrong
there were screens up on the take off side of a fence on the final circuit ( the field bypassed this fence as there were also screens on the landing side ) – Synchronised fell, was injured but tried to continue and came to grief further down the track.
According to the Telegraph Synchronised continued after his fall over more fences, whether it be 5 or less and when he finally stopped he was found to have broken his back leg, they don’t seem to know where it happened.
I couldn’t actually watch the race and never watched a replay, the only terrible result is that Synchronised and According to Pete lost their lives and as the Telegraph said there would have been no joy in the lass returning to Jackdaw’s Castle with Sunnyhillboy and an empty stall.
The screens were actually up whilst an injured jockey was being treated.
I don’t think it was fair to make a comment about people’s judgement in emotional issues such as these.Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...REMEMBER there’s a rump of UK society who see this as part of an overall class war
Really?
Is that the best you can do, in replying to my detailed post?
In answer to your "Really"? An emphatic "yes" from me.
My sentiments exactly Ivanjica.
I feel so much empathy for Mr Nelson, his family and According to Pete’s lass and trainer. It is dreadful for them. He was sailing around too. Such a striking looking horse and to know he was loved so much is heartbreaking.
Is that the best you can do, in replying to my detailed post?
Of course not. I could do much better if I felt like it.
Is that the best you can do, in replying to my detailed post?
Of course not. I could do much better if I felt like it.
Just trawling back thru’ your posts there does seem to be a hint/slight tinge of the Class war i alluded to in my original post.
Luckily for horse racing its followers are truly a broad church, literally from all walks of life and varying degrees of wealth (or not) – that should keep any organised ‘large political party’ interference to a minimum.
Is that the best you can do, in replying to my detailed post?
Of course not. I could do much better if I felt like it.
Just trawling back thru’ your posts there does seem to be a hint/slight tinge of the Class war i alluded to in my original post.
Luckily for horse racing its followers are truly a broad church, literally from all walks of life and varying degrees of wealth (or not) – that should keep any organised ‘large political party’ interference to a minimum.
With the exceptions of the high end meetings at Ascot, Goodwood and York, one could be mistaken for thinking that racing had quite the large working class following. Especially if one attended meetings at courses such as Aintree, Stratford, Newcastle, Haydock, Uttoxeter, Worcester, Cartmel… Perhaps many decades ago, racing was the preserve of the upper middle classes but that isn’t the case these days (at least not from the spectator’s end).
Judging by your post, you seem to have a hint/slight tinge of paranoia about you, wanting to defend against the non-existent hordes of anarchists.
You also have the air of a pompous twazzock with a keen sense of self importance. I could have given a detailed response to your post but then I would have to have given a detailed response to everybody else’s posts. Many of which were a lot more detailed than yours. (If you must have some validation… I read your suggested improvements and thought that you missed out the going which is probably the most important factor). But instead, I just wanted an elaboration on your fervent assumption that the proletariat are out to get us. Presumably bypassing the entire political and class system altogether and aiming for the jugular that is, by and large, an irrelevant pastime.
In fact, of the more popular sports, cricket, rowing and rugby union are probably more commonly associated with toffery than horse racing.
I can reveal to you though that I am stonkingly working class and I have attended a lecture by Noam Chomsky. Although the latter could well be because my fiancée is a linguist. Still, you never know! So perhaps you should be a little more careful before you antagonise someone who could potentially be an adherent to Proudhon’s philosophies
I can reveal to you though that I am stonkingly working class and I have attended a lecture by Noam Chomsky. Although the latter could well be because my fiancée is a linguist. Still, you never know! So perhaps you should be a little more careful before you antagonise someone who could potentially be an adherent to Proudhon’s philosophies
I had to google what you’ve just written in this paragraph to educate myself – what a philistine i am!
You end The National coverage will go into the next big race, the Gold Cup, even one death would cause outrage then they’d be after that too.
Just a couple of thoughts:-
Outriders. Why couldn’t Aintree employ a team of outriders to act as catchers of loose horses? Presumably, Synchronised, having galloped off in pursuit of the pack for another half mile before his life ending injury could have potentially been caught by such an outrider (as long as he wasn’t already within the "pack") beforehand.
Number of Runners. Having been against reducing the numbers (on the grounds of "not being the same race", I’m finally conceeding that this must be a serious option. As others have already indicated, in the modern day Nationals of high class ultra competitive fields, no quarter is given – hence the crowding on the inner – especially at Bechers/Foinavon/Canal section. I think 30-32 would suffice. (Compared to the old days of 15-20 with a genuine chance and 15-20 no hopers).
Fences. I’m in the camp where I feel further reductions, adjustments to the fences will have the reverse effect – i.e. faster speeds/more scope for nasty incidents. Part of the problem IMVHO is the homogenisation of many park courses. The fences at places like Market Rasen and Musselburgh (to my eyes) resemble little more then brush hurdles.
When I walked round Aintree on National Day 2006, what struck me was not so much the height (to my naked (slightly wonky) eyes, Cheltenham fences look a similar height), but the sheer girth of the National fences and trainers putting a bit of spruce on top of a training fence surely does not prepare a horse for the National.
Date of Race. With the race creeping later and later in the year (now nearer mid April), there is a greater scope for Good ground (even with extensive watering) causing horses to travel faster (see "Fences"). 2007 and 2011 were run in April Heatwaves with temperatures in the mid 20’s C. (Great for getting Liver Birds through the doors in their skimpy dresses and filling the bars – not great for horses).
Personally, I would ri-jig the calender and run Cheltenham on the turn of March with Aintree around the 20-25th March (Easter pending).I’m no expert and I may be talking nonsense. I’m just a guy that has watched and fell in love with the National since 1980 (seen all televised runnings on DVD) but that relationship is fraying at the edges.
Just a couple of thoughts:-
Outriders. Why couldn’t Aintree employ a team of outriders to act as catchers of loose horses? Presumably, Synchronised, having galloped off in pursuit of the pack for another half mile before his life ending injury could have potentially been caught by such an outrider (as long as he wasn’t already within the "pack") beforehand.
Wait, they don’t have outriders already?
That’s insanity. The NSA rules of racing require at least two outriders for every sanctioned meet.No outriders in UK at any racecourses. They have them at point-to-points ie the hunt staff.
No outriders in UK at any racecourses. They have them at point-to-points ie the hunt staff.
By outriders I’m not talking about track ponies, the horses at steeplechases generally don’t have those either. I mean "catch riders" who are posted around the course and catch riderless horses.
An interesting stat I saw today said that research has shown that prior to saturdays race 53% of fallers in the national came within the first 1m 35s of the start. I’m not sure how this data was acrrued but, if near the truth, shows to me that it is the start of the race that needs to be looked at. Maybe moving the start nearer the first fence to slow them down as this this sets the tempo, and maybe doing something about the prelimeries to lessen the tension and adreneline of both horses and jockeys.
If racing doesn’t abolish this cruel and ridiculous race, it will ultimately set in motion a chain of protest and legislation that will in time ruin the English Turf in general, and bring about the end of National Hunt.
With a few honourable exceptions, the people who make up this sport are ignorant, perhaps wilfully, of this danger. They think they can carry as they are. This is a mistake that will be paid for very heavily in time.
The problem of the National is here to stay. It will not go away.
British Moral Panics (c) are often absurd and ridiculous. On the face of it, the one about the National is. My first thought was: When they’ve sorted out battery farms, vivisection, factory farming, low pay for humans, starting wars for oil on the basis of lies, children smoking skunk and stabbing each other to death on a regular basis, pensioners lying in their own filth in hospitals, mass unemployment and the Islamic terrorist threat, when they’ve done all that, maybe we can start a moral panic about a horse race.But life in England doesn’t work like that. The main thought should be the long-term preservation of the sport/game of racing horses, and the National will from here onwards be an albatross round its neck, or a leper’s bell if you will, announcing animal cruelty to a nation which is sentimental about animals and increasingly given to activist bandwagons.
I lot of rubbish is written in the Racing Post each year about how the National is ‘racing’s shop window’. Well, it isn’t a very good advert: brutality, injury and usually a winner most people couldn’t find by sticking half a dozen pins in. If it was a good advert, the sport would grow each year as newcomers develop an interest in it; but year on year public interest in the Turf declines, these days precipitously. The ‘shop window’ does nothing.
So dump it or have it sink the ship.
You have been warned.
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