The 2015 Crabbies Grand National

len_madeiros said:
Does Many Clouds necessarily need cut in the ground if the race is over 4 and a half miles? Soft ground slows down other horses for him over 3 miles, but surely other horses - inferior ones - won't need to be slowed down for him to beat them over a longer distance. Assuming that Many Clouds has the stamina to last 4 and a half miles and the weight doesn't slow him down too much.


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And I then changed my mind several times!


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Thought Many Clouds had 'gone' after the Gold Cup, so fantastic race by him and his jockey who kept him handy all the way.
I don't bet, but talking through others' pockets, I really hoped Paul Moloney had learnt from last year, but he rode the race exactly the same way and gave his mount far too much to do at the end of the race, again.
Would love to know who Ruby Walsh was shouting at at the back of the field when he had put his flag down.
 
moloney has done it seven years in a row now. it's the same ride every single year. :lol:

it's absolutely ridiculous really but having backed his horse e/w in pretty much all of those years i cant grumble too hard as they've always returned a profit.
 
G-G said:
Would love to know who Ruby Walsh was shouting at at the back of the field when he had put his flag down.
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I thought it was Tom Cannon who was leathering Wyck Hill as he went past; at first I thought Ruby was just encouraging Nina on but he looked too cross for it to be that.
 
Think Paul Maloney had Alvorado close enough and wasn't just waiting to pick up the pieces late on - Monbeg Dude held up even further off the pace. Alvorado lacks the tactical pace to ever get closer to the leaders.

Thought The Druids Nephew might end up the top class animal from the field (and carried my cash) but thought he was doing plenty enough throughout the second circuit to be seen as a moral winner.
 
He was finishing like a train last year, and exactly the same this year. If Moloney had had him nearer, especially last year, he could have easily won. He was only 10 lengths of the winner today, race reader wrote 'dropped to mid division Canal Turn', that's what cost him.
 
Monbeg Dude got stopped avoiding some faller early so ran a hell of a race.
Hats off to the winner and connections.
Leighton Aspell has really turned his career around after the Lively Knight affair long ago.
Oliver Sherwood has really hit the big time again thanks to Trevor Hemmings, the only man it seems to consistently buy stock by Cloudings and have success with them. Three GN wins with three horses is some record after first seeing his old boss Bill Pontin's Specify win in 71.
 
So glad to see BK is ok, hopefully. Ruby having a fine go at Wyck hills rider!

I backed Many Clouds but thought it wasa sentimental bet....not bad at 33/1.

What are the antis going to talk about? Anyone else think they actively WANT there to be fatalities? The hyperbole and flat out lies spouted by PETA etc on Facebook is terrifying.
 
Phil Smith has put Many Clouds up by 7 lbs to 167 and indicated that the most weight the horse could carry next year would be 1lb more
 
One of the most enjoyable Nationals for many a year: didn't back the winner but thrilled he won!
A proper Chaser, welcome back to the top table Oliver Sherwood.
 
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icebreaker said:
It IS a super offer, without doubt.
A free £125 cash-back. And even better, you can do multiple horses so that you won't tie up a large amount on the Betfair Lay side as you would if only doing one horse of £125 E/W. And you will get 5 places too with Bet365. :)
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Hope lots did Shutthefrontdoor E/w👍
 
Fizzbw said:
What are the antis going to talk about? Anyone else think they actively WANT there to be fatalities? The hyperbole and flat out lies spouted by PETA etc on Facebook is terrifying.
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Unfortunately when your only motive for watching is looking for ammunition against racing, there was plenty to be had. It's not that hard to look at it from the anti POV: Seedling killed in the opener, BK badly injured, winner close to collapse, C4 presenters using the word "carnage" and saying it was "unbelievable" all 39 runners came back okay. That's the stuff they'll pick out, not the positives; not the fact it was the third GN on the trot with no fatalities in the race itself, not the fact that the aggressive cooling is a welfare step forward, not the actions of Ruby or the words of Aidan Coleman in the jockey cam footage they showed from the Topham.

I've had to step away from checking the PETA & AA FB pages because the empty rhetoric and baseless propaganda was raising my blood pressure. The really sad - and worrying - thing is that the ordinary general public are being sucked into believing their lies and momentum is gathering against the race. Literally every single non-racing newspaper with an FB presence that I saw posting about the GN in the run-up to the race, even just "here's the list of runners and riders", were full of comments from Mr & Mrs Joe Public saying it's cruel, it's barbaric, ban it, racing people only care about money, those poor horses etc etc. Even Horse & Hound, an equestrian publication, had a similar consensus in its comments on the article. On Thursday I asked my colleague who always used to run a GN sweep if he was doing one this year and he said no, it was too controversial and he'd had too many negative comments and people not wanting to participate last year because they didn't want to support something they thought was cruel. I just work with a normal bunch of people, not a load of animal rights nutters, but that's the way the tide is turning.

Its easy to to be complacent and to feel we have logic and right on our side, but we need to be aware of the prevailing mood about the race and not to underestimate the power of public opinion when they start bandying about the "cruelty" word long enough and loudly enough. Dismissing them all as hysterical vegetarian tree-huggers who can be safely ignored would be a dangerous mistake to make.
 
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