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Having read the full report whilst I accept Harris clearly has no filter of boundaries the BHA clearly had it in for him. His appearance on the Nick Luck Sunday was probably the BHAs way of finding a way of permanently removing his licence.
Reading the report it comes across as very one sided. Harris is a liar. His head stable girl is a liar. Charlton is a liar. But everything said against him is deemed to be true. Earle was also covertly filming their arguments and presumably only showing the bits he wanted the BHA to see. It was admitted Earle trespassed on his property.
It said a number of people came forward as character references for Harris but they were ignored too. When 2 experienced BHA staff backed Harris they are now disregarded too.
Harris has had a colourful life starting out from very humble beginnings. Also recovering from bankruptcy to create a large stable of decent horses is no mean feat. I’m not defending his behaviour with young female staff but sadly he is of a generation brought up in the 1970s where inappropriateness was common. The BHA did confirm it wasn’t for his sexual gratification. We are not talking Rolf Harris here.
He was certainly a go to for a quote for the racing press and they will miss him.
You can save Constitution Hill for the Festival and he steps at the 1st hurdle and that’s that.
I was one of those who wanted to see him over fences this season. If he’s a superstar then let him attempt the NH triple crown of Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase & Gold Cup. No horse would ever emulate that.
Doesn’t look as though that will happen and most ex 4 year old pointers only have a limited shelf life so his time is already running out.
You have to run so many times to qualify for a handicap mark. There are entry conditions for the National where some trainers have to run their horse to qualify. As a suggestion in order to run in the Champion Hurdle you need to run in 3 condition hurdle races (unless entered and abandoned) or in 2 handicaps that season. Perhaps Henderson and a few others might get their horses out a bit earlier and we might see some competitive racing away from the Festival.
Isn’t racing trying to sell itself with Premier Racing etc? Having your highest rated horse standing in a stable during most of the jump season is not a great selling point. At this rate you’re more likely to see Kate Bush in concert than seeing Constitution Hill on a racetrack.
Henderson’s obsession about those 1s next to a horses name. Perhaps one way of getting to see these horses more often before the Cheltenham Festival is to say every horse must have run at least 3 times that season. I bet Constitution Hill would run 3 times then ‘bad scope’ or not.
Ironic that it was an Australian who started the ball rolling by reducing the distance of the race thereby consigning to history the records of all those who had competed before. Just look at the state of Australian jump racing where appeasement and tinkering has virtually destroyed the sport.
It has been mentioned that perhaps cynically 34 was plumped for because it fits nicely with the World Pool? Surely the Aintree executive wouldn’t lie to us that it’s all data driven?!
As a massive fan of the race over many many decades I just feel empty when watching the race most years now. This generation don’t deserve a Red Rum.
The slow death of the Grand National continues. Every time they tinker they make things worse until we are left where we are now. This is no longer the Grand National and it’s time the Jockey Club/BHA changed the name of the race too. They’ve changed nearly everything else.
How often has a horse suffered a fatal injury in the National when there weren’t even 34 runners still going? Last season a horse died in the Foxhunters with 27 runners.
They have absolutely no data to back this up because there aren’t any other races with 40 runners. Something I observed a while back was how many fatalities involved horses wearing headgear of some sort. Should we ban that too?
The ‘National’ is being backed into a corner with no way out. Personally I would ban the race now and leave us with the memories of Foinavon, Red Rum, Aldaniti etc. Racing is no longer in safe hands.
As for those in Racing trying to show a united front about these changes we know full well Walsh doesn’t believe in what he is saying to the media. They are more concerned about the anti’s coming after the rest of racing. You can’t appease ignorance and those intent on stopping the sport.
I backed Hoo Ya Mal who stood rock still (or scared stiff) when the fireworks went for what seemed ages. I’m sure he was thinking WTF!
Perhaps on Guy Fawkes day we can let off fireworks at every race meeting. I’m sure the Jockey Club will think it a great idea. Encourage those youngsters in.
Here we probably go again with the Kneejerkers & Tinkerers Club at the BHA and Aintree Executive coming up with other great ideas in how to back themselves and NH racing into a corner.
Next on the agenda field sizes as if that would have saved Discorama when the field had already been reduced at the time of his sad injury on the flat.
Remember how they reduced the widths of the fences to allow run offs and then all horses came together at Bechers resulting in Dooneys Gate horrific fall in 2011?
At the end of the day 3 horses fell independently on Saturday and if 40 horses had run over that distance over a widened park course at the same speed encountered on good ground I’m pretty sure the ‘carnage’ would have been much the same.
We lost another horse in the Scottish National the previous Saturday but I haven’t heard a call to reduce the maximum field of 30 not that 30 ran anyway.
2011 saw the first horses killed between fences 1 and 6 for 13 years so clearly there is a set pattern!
I assume should horses be killed at fences 8 to 15 this year we can expect major changes there too?
Gingertipster
You are missing my point. Look at how many NH sires (and dam sires) that never saw a fence and never won a race over more than 2 miles.
Someone has to win the National and Old Vic’s appear to have more of a stamina influence, but just look at the number of horses unable to get home over just 4 miles in the ever diminshing amount of long distance chases.
It is not just soft ground but light framed flat bred horses ill-equiped and not designed to meet the demands of these races and the problem is getting worse season by season as the stamina influence weakens in each generation.
Going back to my original observation. The BHA have virtually ignored this aspect in their detailed report but think horses rated under 120 and 6 year olds are a problem worth banning!!
Having read the report in full just one brief sentence on the breeding of horses running in the National!
How many horses nowadays are from flat bred stallions totally unable to see out distances in long distance chases?
Removed the drop at the 1st, lowered the 4th and reduced the drop at the 6th. So what is going to happen on April 14th next year? Horses will be travelling even quicker.
You think an Australian would have worked out that one by now looking at what has happened in his native land.
2 horses killed in the 2010 Topham. Does that mean that and the National should be reduced to 20 runners or less?
So course form counts for nothing. Grand Sefton & Topham winners excluded from now on. Does that mean Churchtown Boy would not have chased home Red Rum in 1977?
Both Ginger and Rummy battled from humble beginnings to become legends in their own lifetimes.
My love for the sport started from the day I witnessed the 1973 National on Grandstand when I was only 9 years of age. Anyone who sat through that 9 minutes of exhausting and unfolding drama will never forget that day.
Sadly we will never see their likes again.In my view the amount of runners has no bearing on the fatalities over the National fences. If it did then please explain why 2 horses were killed at Valentines in the 2010 Topham? The 1996 National had a fatality with 27 runners and 4 were killed in 1954 National with only 29 runners. Let’s not forget 2 horses died in the Scottish National a week after the National but were there any complaints directed at Ayr racecourse?
The BHA run-off’s in the National are a danger by making the field congest and we nearly had an incident of a loose horse jumping onto those treating Dooneys Gate. Loose horses can’t read and I dread the day a loose horse impales itself on a dolling off board.
The first fence is fine (no horse killed at this fence this millennium). Doing away with the fence will make the run to the second quicker and moving the fence forward will not allow the field a decent sight of the fence. The BHA are going to level the fence which is asking for trouble as the present first fence warns or scares horses of possible hazards.
As for banning the race on heavy ground, this is National Hunt racing and you will find there are far less fatalities on heavy ground and horses will pull up long before they are exhausted in such conditions.
The course was fine before the race this year (the BHA and RSPCA obviously thought it was and the chances of a horse being killed at a fence in the National is less than 0.05% which is hardly an unacceptable risk in such a competitive race) but running in such unseasonal weather was a bad move. So when are they running next year? Even later on the 14 April!!
I have watched the race for over 40 years and was hoping this magnificent spectacle of these beautiful animals taking on the ultimate challenge in sport would not be diluted any further, but sadly the health & safety obsessed BHA couldn’t resist ruining the race further.I was away when the interim report was published. I do question whether the BHA have properly looked at this years race or previous history.
There is no doubt the run off areas are adding to the problem at Bechers (what chance was there that they would admit to their health & safety causing a problem?). No horse or jockey went anywhere near the run off at Bechers presuambly to avoid their horse attempting to run out and this added to the congestion in the middle of the fence.
Dooneys Gate was the first fatality at this fence in 12 runings of the race and the first to be killed at Bechers first time round since 1989. Hardly carnage warranting more twaeking of the fence.
As for leveling off the first fence most observers thought horses should be slowed down in the approach to the first. Now they will be able to jump it even quicker and meet the second even faster.
Interestingly the lowering and softening of the 3rd (the once big ditch) resulted in more fallers at the 4th which has always looked more imposing than any other on the run down to Bechers.
Just to prove how the BHA and Aintree pander to the once a year opponents of the race. What happened when two horses were killed instantly at Valentines in the Topham in 2010? Yes you guessed it, nothing!!
