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PC tosh as usual
Except it isn’t. Lifted from the dictionary;
politically correct
adj. Abbr. PC
1. Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
2. Being or perceived as being overconcerned with such change, often to the exclusion of other matters.
It may be schmaltzy, or an over-reaction to some posters, but a matter of PC it ain’t. Happy to clarify.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
To be perfectly honest, madman, all I have seen from you on this thread is pointless, insensitive, nigh-on-comical drivel which commands about as much respect as Abu Hamza on his annual address of the Church of England.
The fact is that horseracing forms part of the ‘real world’, as you put it, and the death of any horse, whilst obviously unfortunate, is very real for those directly involved. And those who are not, it would seem, as this thread admirably proves. Your inexplicable failure to give the connection between man and horse any credence is unbelievable, and one can only assume you aren’t a horseracing fan for those that make the sport what it is – the horses. People make of the sport what they want, but I would suggest that if you don’t have anything worthwhile to say you just ignore the thread.
The death of any particular horse isn’t going to stop the world (then again neither is that of any particular soldier, no matter which country, army or cause they are fighting for – though I would suggest such a comparison shows what little foundation your ridiculous comments are made upon) but within the circles in which we live any such occurrence means a great deal.
As a Liverpool fan – just to work on the barmy lines of logic you have been operating on thus far – I would be devastated if a member of our squad were to be killed. It wouldn’t mean a lot to any non-football fans, or perhaps supporters of other clubs in other countries, but does that give me any less right to be upset, or to view the event as tragic?
I think not.
I draw upon the passing of Princess Diana as another pertinent, at least to you, example. Royalists and Diana fans were grief-stricken, whilst others (including myself) didn’t really think all that much of it. The world didn’t end, life didn’t change for everyone, but her death still meant something to some people. Whilst I may not have agreed with the hysteria it caused, who am I to tell people what is and isn’t worth grieving or showing emotion over?
What was a caring, heart-felt thread about the loss of two potentially outstanding horses and the effects on connections at this time has now descended in to a series of fevered rants from someone who is irritatingly mindless. Then again, maybe better shouldn’t be expected of someone who can’t work out the difference between ‘delve’ and ‘dwell’.
As regards the fall of Granit Jack, I think Smithy has it pretty much spot on. The horse had jumped well until coming down, and in fact looked to have cleared the ‘offending obstacle’ pretty well prior to hitting the deck, and was cruising alongside rivals already hard at work. He did look to land heavily on his neck though, and was not moving (or so it seemed) at any stage. Liam Heard showed signs of injury immediately after the fall and I would hazard a guess that Granit Jack was gone sooner after his head hitting the ground.
A sad, sad loss and commiserations to connections.
I suppose if u delve or should I say dwell on something,
I have a funny feeling that what I say is reality, what way would you feel if a six kid family, down the road from you, was wiped out in a house fire ???
And you show these sentiments to a horse, for f sake its only a horse , and when its put down its put down humanely, "get with the real world"I have thought for quite a while that the ‘downhill’ fence, aka the second last, should be relocated. Maybe even eliminated. They come at it far too fast and out of control.
I’m glad that Ruby, and Liam, are both OK. Liam limped away too after a jolting fall. It’s just a pity that we had to lose two such promising animals today to the infamous downhill fence.I also used to dismiss owners and trainers stating, "..as long as they come back safe…" thinking they were softies etc
I say ‘come back safe’ to myself for every race I watch for both horse and rider.
Having been personally attached in the loss of both, it’s never far from the mind, no matter how long it has been.Commiserations to the Nicholls team, a very sad weekend for you all and a big get well soon to Ruby Walsh.
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Hypocrits that you are not one of you were worried about Ruby’s condition
Perhaps this is because less than 30 minutes after the race the viewing public were informed that he’d dislocated his shoulder. Everyone surely relieved…
Of course the life of a jockey is more important than a horse. Some American fans would disagree and I remember the fairly recent sad death of Michael Rowland, a leading jockey on the Northern Kentucky/Ohio circuit, after which some fans said that the deceased horse was more important than Rowland-who left a young family.
Jumps racing over there interests a hard core mainly located in the Hunt countries on the mid-atlantic seaboard and British/Irish expats who move over to work in the sport. Most fans may see the odd race if they go to Saratoga on a Thursday, Colonial Downs on a Sunday or a few other races dotted around flat meetings.
But now, for the 1st time, i’d be worried about the adverse reaction that many American fans have to National Hunt racing. This is the 1st full British/Irish National Hunt season that has been shown every day on TVG/HRTV and the number of posts on forums like this using the words "murder","cruelty" etc is sharply on the rise and a number of American flat racing fans that I know have contacted groups here to offer support.
MM you’re nothing if not consistent-as virtually your 1st post on the board was virtually the same opinion on the same subject. It’s lucky for you there are very few Americans on here-because by now you’d be trying to analyse which of the death threats was the most realistic.
Bit harsh on Nicholls there Knighty. The horse had jumped well, still seemed to be tanking along and had it not been for an unfortunate stumble, we may be talking about a fine training performance.
Can’t really see that today’s incident would have been any different had he had a previous jaunt around one of the lesser tracks, while given he isn’t a novice, I would have thought that the number of suitable alternatives, without blowing his handicap mark, was fairy limited.
Terrible shame, but I wouldn’t criticise anyone – just one of those unfortunate things that blight the winter game.
Maybe it is a tad harsh – NIcholls knew the horse and obviously felt he was up to it. Still – I stand by my point. If I owned a decent chaser I wouldnt give it its first run over fences in a race of this nature as common sense dictates that a horse will be become more intellignet at its fences as it gains experience.
madman whatever……………your behaviour and attitude to jack and the other one of pauls is an abserloot disgrace and arragent……it is extreamly sad..would you be so dispicable if you owned the horse or his groom or infact the one who has him over the summer hols?????????????????no i exspect not.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!its awful 4 every1 and guting being involved with jack who was a lovely animal. maybe you should leave your self absorbed thoughts to yourself………………………
I have to admit I also find it a shade ambitious sending a novice FTO in Britain to a top-class handicap chase, at Cheltenham of all places. However, no questions whatever would have been raised had Granite Jack carried out what he threatened to do and made the handicapper look very foolish indeed.
A sad day to see the demise of a horse that was surely going to be a Champion Chase/Ryanair contender one day.
Furthermore, a point to madman marz. The reason we on this board are so emphatic in our concern for horses welfare is because we are fans of the sport of horse racing, which as the name suggests has horses central to it’s very existence. I refer you to a comment made by Bill Shankly, former Liverpool manager and football fan:
"Football isn’t a case of life and death. It’s far more important than that!"
Any fool would know that this is not the case, and I don’t imagine Bill believed it much either.
We are merely the same with regards to racing. We value human life greater than equine, but the attachment and sympathy we feel towards our four-legged heroes means that we will always show exaggerated compassion for them.
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