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Tweeted by Cornelius Lysaght:
BHA to announce (9am, Wed) ‘procedural’ changes to Aintree Grand National after review; alterations to 3 jumps already announced
I am deeply ashamed by the whole series of events yesterday … this was a day to forget , dead horses covered up , beechers bypassed , and the winner so exhausted that the Jockey walked back to the weighing room
If this is our biggest day , then its time for a rethink , I sincerely hope public opinion rails against this carnage , it must not happen again
Horses must come first , money and betting secondary
I hope Peter makes a total recovery
Ricky
My guess is Ricky that you will get pilloried on here for your view about the race, but I for one agree with you.
My friend took his family to the races for the first time yesterday, and there isn’t the slightest chance of them ever returning now.
We all understand that there are inherent risks in racing and that there is always the chance of serious injuries or worse. I also understand that attempts have been made over the years to make the race safer. However it now seems that there are fatalities nearly every time the event is run.
Time to think again as you sayBest get that villian from Bananaman in – that fella who could change the weather – to ensure suitable conditions for National day.
Now, some say the fences are to blame, so let’s do away with them.
You could say the jockeys were irresponsible. Let’s use a different set of jockeys.
Are the weights too much? Yes, let’s reduce them
Distance too far? Possibly. Let’s reduce it.
Too many runners? Let’s halve the limit
Ladies and gentlemen – next year’s National comes to you on the first Saturday in June, from Epsom!
They banned Nh racing in New Zealand because public opinion made it feasible , the same could happen here , make no mistake , yesterday was shameful
Maybe its time to review the situation , I dont ever want to watch that carnage again …so if this means scrapping the National for the sake of racing , then lets do it now
Ricky
Well done to connections, all that backed Ballabriggs and/or made a profit.
I am with others who think this result (two horse deaths) has not done racing any good. However, feelings that fences are too stiff are wide of the mark (imo). Primarily, the offending object is not the obstacles, hitting them does not (on the whole) kill. It is speed and firmness of the ground that does the damage. If fences are made easier, horses go faster over them and (when they do fall) death and/or injury is more likely.
Despite them having to go around the outside of two fences – including on the wide outside of a turn – they were 13 seconds faster than Racing Post Standard. that suggests to me it was more like good-firm on the National course.
Did they water enough?
I don’t know if these particular deaths were caused by ground conditions; but it is a known fact fatalities and injuries increase the firmer the going.
Are there too many runners?
40 horses makes being brought down and/or horses falling on top of each other, too likely; especially now the fences are (presumably) narrower, to allow them to ommit a fence.
Value Is EverythingCarnage?? what nonsense. Ricky, I guess you only like to see flat racing so if you don’t like the jumps don’t watch it. Yesterday was unfortunate, some of which was due to the unseasonal hot weather but if you santise jumps racing too much the sport will disappear which will be a dark day. Then again I suppose that will cheer you no end?
My primary concern in the sport is punting – I must be honest about that. If I couldn’t bet then the sport would not receive anything like the attention I give it.
That aside, I was very uncomfortable about that yesterday. Seeing Maguire and McCoy dismount seconds after passing the line and obviously very concerned about their horses wasn’t good viewing. Seeing Donald McCain shouting for buckets of water as he feared the winner would collapse was extremely unpleasant. Surely there must be a more efficient system of giving horses water than people carrying buckets over to a horse a few hundred yards away.
Yesterday there was a very real danger that while Clare Balding interviewed winning connections millions of viewers around the world would have witnessed a horse collapse and die had the horse returned to the enclosure.
As for what ‘we’ do… I just don’t know. I agree with Ginger, I think it’s speed that kills, but I don’t know how you stop that.
Sometimes we need people from outside the sport to offer a fresh perspective on the event. I know that makes some of us uncomfortable and there’s a tendency to take up a Daily (hate) Mail attitude of ‘it’s PC gone mad, liberals are to blame, it was much tougher in my day’ – but as a spectacle, yesterday’s race was nearly unpalatable.
I don’t think I’ve posted on this forum for a long time. These days I don’t get the time to keep up with racing as much, but always keep an eye on what’s going on, and I always watch the big races.
I’m not sure whether it’s due to having ‘stepped back’ from racing a bit in recent years, but I felt more than uncomfortable watching the National yesterday. It’s the one race that’s made the most of more than any other. To outsiders of racing, they may think this is what all racing is about.
I love the National, and racing, and have for years. But it really is hard to justify the race to the general public when horses are fatally injured and quite obviously so – the dolling off of fences emphasised this, not least the BBC’s unfortunate camera angles. Then there was Ballabriggs’s exhaustion. I too was terrified he was going to collapse after the line.
The fences are smaller but I don’t think this has helped at all. The ground looked like it was riding much faster than the official description and I think the time reflects this, despite two fences being omitted.
Today’s Daily Mail website makes cringeworthy reading at best: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article … ntree.html although I have major issues with how they’ve reported it (but I have issues with the way the DM reports anything).
All in all, the Grand National is racing’s biggest PR disaster.
No surprise the tabloids (Daily Mail) would create a sensation, written no doubt by people who do something else 363 days a year.
What is surprising is some of the sensationalism on this thread, by people who should know better.
Here’s to the 2012 renewal.
- Total Posts 17716
Jumps racing is alive and well in New Zealand in spite of reports to the contrary. You can find the schedule for the 2011 season below.
http://www.nzracing.co.nz/Documents/6981/Draft%20jumping%20programmes%202011%2023-3-11.pdf
Australia did fall to the anti jumps lobby. A well organised campaign marginalised the sport out of existence.
Jumps racing was a regular winter fixture in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. Excellent carnivals were staged at Oakbank and Warrnambool. The prizemoney on offer on the Victorian circuit was often better than what we see here.
A number of high quality stables were vitually jumps only along with numerous top flat trainers regularly having a classy jumper or two. That’s all gone thanks to a very narrow view being overly publicised. The industry simply didn’t stand a chance. The pet food industry doesn’t mind a bit.
There is currently talk about a recovery for jumps racing Downunder. As someone who trained a jumper or two in Melbourne I wish them all the best.
The National is a marathon and certainly isn’t for the weak hearted. It’s jumps racing at its most extreme. I’d never take a child to such an event as a first time experience. Too crowded, drunken revellers and the high likelihood of falling horses. I believe the race still has a place though in an ever sanitised world full of increasingly panglossian perceptions.
I also wish the local jumps industry all the best and hope they can organise themselves a lot better when facing opposition from animal rights campaigners than folks Downunder did. There’s a lot at stake when it comes to popularising the simplistic views of naive reactionaries. They know their audience well and how to hit below the belt. Come out fighting folks!
I’ve just read the link to the Daily Mail article and would like to point out one thing. There was a quote from Paul Nicholls about Ornais..I read the same quote in TRP, and the Mail missed out the fact that the Nicholls team had, over two years, nursed the horse through a serious leg injury. Would people who didn’t care for their horses devote such time, patience and money to get them better, given that it was quite possible that Ornais would never see a racecourse again? If they’re going to quote someone, quote the whole comment or it might get taken out of context.
If the high profile of the National is causing so much alarm, run it on a Friday & inform the press that we’d like them to make a bigger deal about the Cheltenham Gold Cup & run that on a Saturday.
People will fall for anything the newspapers tell them.
so here is a reasonable question for you reasonable people !!
How many horses have to die in full view of the bbc next year , and how many fences have to become dolled off next year , before someone decides enough is enough
As someone who has watched it and supported it for over 45 yrs , I was sickened yesterday , if you weren’t ok thats fine , but I reckon a lot of people were
cheers
Ricky
As is the same with every National we get overblown nonesense on how us National Hunt boys have no feelings for the horses and care only about money and the spectacle. It really does get tiring.
The National is a perfectly safe race and has always put safety first. Yesterday was very unfortunate, but these things happen. The fences had nothing to do with it. This could have happened anywhere and news flash it will happen again everywhere.
It’s not like you flatsies are totally innocent either. I’d rather watch the National every day than watch horses forced into stalls and watching them panicking like scared children while they’re inside what can only be described as anti-spacious cells.
Jump racing is fine the way it is. It does not need ANY rethinking or remodeling. These things happen and that’s just the way it is. Don’t like it? Turn the channel and watch some curling.
so here is a reasonable question for you reasonable people !!
How many horses have to die in full view of the bbc next year , and how many fences have to become dolled off next year , before someone decides enough is enough
As someone who has watched it and supported it for over 45 yrs , I was sickened yesterday , if you weren’t ok thats fine , but I reckon a lot of people were
cheers
Ricky
Well, I’d imagine it’ll be quite a few years although I’ve no doubt that day is coming.
What about the horses that die in other races? Do people only care when it’s a big race on national television? Because that’s the way it looks to me.
33 horse fatalities in the last 11 years – that’s a 7% attrition rate. If your average grand prix driver thought he had a 1 in 14 chance of being killed every time he raced, I think that sport might die out rather quickly.
I’ve loved watching the National since the late 60s and robustly defended it to members of the tree-hugging community but recently I’ve started to wonder whether I’m being selfish. Is the race just TOO extreme? The biggest fences, longest distance, biggest fields.
It’s not like Cheltenham: it’s not determining the champion hurdler or chaser. It’s purely a spectacle and I suspect it would lose half its appeal to the non-betting public if there weren’t so many fallers. I’d say it’s beginning to smack a little of the gladitorial arena but I suspect the general public really don’t know that some of those falls result in horses dying or being put down.
Personally, I’d be happy to bring the curtain down on the season at Cheltenham.
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