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It has been a tough few days witnessing the loss of some beautiful horses. Having seen the awful injury to Get on George, I’m saying enough is enough & have everything crossed that those 3 horses in the National are going to be ok. Especially Mr Vango I thought it looked serious & I hope I’m wrong as I’m sure Sarah Bradstock would be devastated 🙏🙏🙏
Pretty sure Top Of The Bill is Ok. Tired fall at the last but eventually got up and walked back to the stables. Fingers crossed for the others. It does seem that horses injured in the National have a better chance than others (maybe because there’s an excellent equine hospital nearby) so we can at least be sure that every effort will be made to save them, even if they never race again.
I thought Mr Vango just got caught up in the reins? I was surprised to see he’d been taken to hospital.
It was Quai De Bourbon I was most concerned about after having his neck trampled on.
The jockey of Top Of The Bill has got a ten day ban, which I personally feel isn’t enough. He pushed the horse beyond its limits and that should be punished. He should have pulled up way before the last fence when the horse fell through exhaustion.
I’m really hoping they are all going to be ok.
“The jockey of Top Of The Bill has got a ten day ban, which I personally feel isn’t enough”.
Billy Loughnane recently was banned for over double that amount of time for (in my opinion) a much less serious offence.
Yes Kristaltips I also thought that Mr Vango had got his leg caught up in his reins. If he is hurt hopefully it will only be muscular 🙏. As for Top of the Bills rider I have no words other than 10 days does not do justice to the horse. It is a huge bug bear of mine when horses are pushed beyond their limits & there were other races at the meeting where that was so, no excuses. As for Quai de Bourbon I have no idea what happened to him
I pray they are all going to be ok 🙏🙏🙏
The last fence is one of the smallest on the course so a fall there is usually a clear indicator of a very tired horse. The same scenario arose last year with Michael Nolan and the ill-fated Celebre D’Allen. I get that a jockey is keen to compete the course and TOTB had a young and inexperienced rider but welfare is vital, especially in a showcase race like the National. I always prefer education over punishment .Senior jockeys and an equine expert should hammer this point home to him . In this instance though I do feel a substantive ban is also justifiable and will ensure that young Mr McCain-Mitchell will never make that mistake again.
Mr Vango is doing well but has a small chip to a neck vertebrae. He is expected to make a full recovery. However it is disappointing to hear the trainer talk of coming back next year. I believe that where a horse has sustained a significant injury in a race like the National it is not fair to put him through it again. By all means keep racing him if the vets are happy but there are plenty of other races.I believe McCoy, Walsh and Fitz were going around the jockeys especially the younger ones giving safety tips. McCain-Mitchell obviously didn’t take on board what was said or just lost it in the moment thinking he was going to complete.
Ban probably should have been longer.
The stewards should probably ask the jockeys of any horse finishing over a 100 lengths behind the winner and a pack of other finishers as to why they continued?
I have followed racing for over 50 years and believe one rule should be modified. Jockeys are told they must ride for the best possible place. I would modify that to add: ‘unless it is clear the horse has no more to give’
Several years ago I had a share in a 2yo filly. We were told by the trainer that she was one of the better ones. Her first race was at Beverley and she was drawn on the rails, a very favourable draw when the going is good. But the going was heavy, so her draw was the worst draw in these conditions. She came out well but struggled in the heavy going. The jockey hit her with the whip and she tried to quicken, but it was obvious she had no more to give. But her jockey hit her at least another twice as she faded.
Every race after that she stopped abruptly just outside the furlong marker, obviously remembering the treatment she received in her first race. She never won a race, but one of her offsprings did.
These days most jockeys are better trained and are more considerate, but the message must be rammed home. The horse is more important than the punters.
My concern with rule setting is that knowing when a horse has nothing else to give is such an inexact art. Horses respond to the whip in different ways, and there will always be varying opinions on how much they have left in the tank.
Presumably the large majority of horses in Saturday’s National had reached the very borderline of what they could give, and many of the jockeys would be sailing close to the limit of what any rule deemed as acceptable.
One area where I would like to see more progress though, and which could be fitted into a rules-based structure, is in a further significant reduction in the amount of whip usage permitted.
In this instance though I do feel a substantive ban is also justifiable and will ensure that young Mr McCain-Mitchell will never make that mistake again.
Although hailing from a family obviously inextricably associated with the Grand National, Toby McCain-Mitchell has had to live curiously in its shadow up until this last weekend.
I was racereading at Hornby Castle on the day he rode his first ever point-to-point winner. There was a certain irony in that achievement being overshadowed utterly 75 minutes later by the National victory of Minella Times, steered home by someone whom his grandfather would have objected to their riding in it at all.
Sam Twiston-Davies’s availability notwithstanding, there must have been the semblance of an argument for putting Toby back up on Beauport in last year’s race, the partnership having pulled out a career-best for the gelding in landing the London National five months prior.
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.
Ginger wouldn’t have been aggrieved at all , the McCains and the Fords were very friendly and Ginger spoke to Carrie about a tongue in cheek jib would get some PR for the race , if Carrie had won Ginger was going to wear a pair of underpants saying ” Carrie Ford is ok ” to prove the point
Ginger would more aggrieved that this is called the Grand National , it isn’t , it’s a graded staying chase hiding as a hcap ….
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
I think I would need more than an apparent entente cordiale between Ginger McCain and one longstanding set of friends before being convinced that the former was more greatly receptive to the idea of female Grand National jockeys (as a whole) in his autumn years.
His passing in late 2011, almost entirely before the rise of Rachael Blackmore had started (that was just her second season operating in Irish jumps races, having ridden just four times in the first), leaves us no wiser, of course.
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.
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