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. I live fairly close to the New Forest, and they don’t half look bored.
Ginge
Gingertipster,
Stop talking percentages with them then!!! Sorry, only jesting.
LlanrumneyBoy
Well I’m quite relieved – I think they handled it with sympathy and certainly not overdramatically.
It could have been a great deal worse.
I was pleasantly surprised with the e-mail split with only 1/3 being hostile (out of around 500) – I would have expected worse
What was interesting was the revelation it was a back injury that did for him – caused by rearing up
Agree Paul.
Did Clare Balding appear ill at ease to others? I missed the first minute or two and was not sure if something had been said that upset her?
I too thought Clare did begin to look a little uneasy maybe because the vet, Joe Ingles, seemed to be stressing about horses being fragile – especially legs – which may suggest to the un-horsey that equines are not built to run and jump.
On the whole I did think they handled it well.I was pleased to see the One Show did not make this a political issue. They told it how it was. Having a young vet in the studio brought some credence to the whole issue.
As for banning the National. Be in no doubt that would be the death knell for NH racing. Millions like me were captivated by the National in the Red Rum years and but for that would have taken no interest in the sport.
To think the future might be watching horses jumping nothing bigger than a brush hurdle, and wall-to-wall sand racing round ever increasing identical racecourses every day. What a nightmare scenario.
Thought the One Show lot did OK with such a grim subject.
Rather better than BBC Wales TV who in an immaculately researched
10 second piece said it was a sad weekend for West Wales trainer
Peter Bowen whose horse McKelvey died after a very bad fall in the
Grand National.Rather better than BBC Wales TV who in an immaculately researched 10 second piece said it was a sad weekend for West Wales trainer Peter Bowen whose horse McKelvey died after a very bad fall in the Grand National.
Why let the facts get in the way of a "good story"?
I haven’t seen the post mortem results yet, but i gather that the animal was put down after galloping loose into the railings and breaking his back.
Although one report says the animal could not stand, I think this must mean after the collision.
In other words, the accident doesn’t seem to be related to last year’s tendon injury – at least, not directly.
But who knows?
I was at the meeting but missed the whole incident myself.
I feel very sorry for the owner; he lost his mother just last week.
My partner tells me that theoneshow handled this very sensitively. If I have one more remaining concern it is that the horse seemed to be detached from the rest of the runners; had he been closer he would perhaps have followed them rather than veering off to the side. However, the main feeling that I have now is terrible sadness and sympathy for his connections…from seeing V.F.’s photo he looked glorious before the race; he deserved his chance to win the race that should have been his last year but it wasn’t to be.
I wish they would get outriders around the fences too grab the loose horses in the on ntional hunt courses for everyones sake, time and again you see loose horses getting injured on race courses after they hsve lost their riders, its time too up our game or NH racing will go the way of the dodo!
I wouldn’t think so, marb.
I have no TV, so I don’t know what responsibilities the show has.
MP I take the point you are making and would agree with the general nub of your argument.
However I would suggest an organisation like the RSPCA is better placed to be, for want of a better expression, the conscience of racing, than an organisation like Animal Aid.
The RSPCA is a professional organisation with vets and experts who generally know what they are talking about and they take a balanced approach.
Animal Aid has a deeper, more sinister agenda and, frankly, see everything in black and white. Either you are with us or against us.
Seconded, Paul. How, for example, did it profit racing for AA to regard Sedgefield simply as a "deathtrap" on the grounds of its (admittedly comparatively high) recent loss rate, without making any particular recommendations for how to improve matters beyond that well-worn "all horse racing is bad" sledgehammer polemic?
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.
Animal Aid is an exceptionally dangerous and fanatical organisation who trade on peddling half truths and inaccuracies along with providing photographs/film footage with grisly contents (mostly staged in some way) in order to get their pitiful message across.
Ever had a look at their website? They advocate encouraging young children to embrace veganism ~ that’s sensible isn’t it, to attempt to brainwash very young children into eating a diet minus most of the nutrients that are essential for their physical and mental development! They even provide "educational packs" for schools encouraging such ideas!!
AA is a very dangerous organisation run by fanatics who attempt to do what they do under some thin cloak of respectability. All you have to do is lightly scratch the surface to see the reactionaries beneath…
Although I was at Aintree, I didn’t see what actually happened to McKelvey. I was in Tatts.
My understanding is that the injury happened as MC says above. However, that infamous Sunday Mail thread gives, what seems to be a very misleading account from Jones, who, admittedly, was much nearer the incident than I was.Did anybody see what happened, please?
I find it hard to believe that the animal ran loose with a serious back injury that occurred when the rider unseated. The frames in the Mail article seem to show a bit of a sprawl before the horse runs on. Jones didn’t mention the collision with the barrier.
Luckily, I don’t rely on papers like the Mail for information, but I suppose we should remember that many racing entrhusiasts use the daily version of the paper quite successfully for their bets ( at least, that’s what i’ve been led to believe).
I agree, they represent a more extreme form of animal rights campaigning, however I think racing and indeed the countryside alliance typically adopt a very defensively extreme position themselves when their sports are criticised for being harmful to animals. So extremism begets extremism in this case I fear.
Spot on. It often feels to me like the good burghers of this forum, plus a certain few shining examples in the media, comprise the rump of those pragmatists who would oppose cessation of horse racing, yet at the same time are honest and unflinching about the more tragic side of the sport.
As with the whole hunting issue, adopting a stance solely of either "Don’t kill the ickle horsies! It’s wong!!" on one side or "Blasted townies don’t know the first thing about horses!!" on the other doesn’t do racing’s cause any good. Certain of Animal Aid will always remain utterly impervious to attempts to engage them in deeper debate on racing, but that organisation as a whole is probably too voiciferous (dangerous, even?) to ignore wholesale.
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.
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