The Road to the Grand National 2011

Well, I watched it, knowing they would be going too fast and too fast they went. For two of them at least it was their last outing and I am so bloody grateful that NH will be the unlikely racing destination for the two filly foals currently in my field. It's too much of a worry for me, I'm afraid - it's worrying enough sitting up to foal the mares, get the foals on the deck safe and sound, raise them to sale time, make sure they're well mannered and properly done - soul destroying for them to end up under a green tarpaulin at Aintree.

OK, horses die all the time from illness and accident - we all know that but I don't know if it's because I am getting older or what but I am finding it harder to justify racing of this nature which is all about spectacle and betting on a massive scale and which too many horses each year lose their lives providing the fodder for the calvalry charge that is, truly, now the Grandy Nasty...
 
Gutted to see the fallen horses but for the first time in I dont know how long managed to back the winner!! Even given that Hubby and Son had backed it too......
 
And they've done it again in slow motion.

Thanks BBC for your innovative fly on the wall view of what happens behind the green screens when a horse is dying.
 
You sure Gaz, Calgary and Ornais went at the 4th, calgary ran on but the dead horse shown clearly by the BBC was lying on the landing side of the fence.

Maybe both have died at the 4th?
 
A friend of mine is a bit of a PETA fanatic. I took him to the Arc one year and I was petrified that he was going to do something stupid.

After the afternoon passed peacefully and we collected our Hurricane Run winnings, I asked him why he didn't object to racing.

He told me it was because of watching the Grand National when he was a kid. When the jockey falls off, the horses carry on running and jumping, so they must want to do it right?
 
It is very sad when horses die and we all get upset over it. But, that is what they are bred for and you and me both know that they can, and often do, die at home when safe and well. We lost one to colic last year who was a happy, healthy horse who wanted for nothing yet he was found in his stable dying one morning. I seem to remember you lost one in the field, a foal, one year? My friend's horse, one that I had one of my horses out with for many months, was found also found one morning in her field with a leg swinging.

The authorities do what they can to make the sport as safe as possible but this is jump racing - there will always be fatalities in the sport. Hell, there will always be fatalities in any equine sport and to be honest, the most horrific deaths I've seen have been during flat races.

So what are we to do? Send them out to do their job knowing that there is a chance they may lose their life, or keep them at home and cosset them, knowing that there is still that chance that they will lose their life? A death from colic is far more heartbreaking than a fatal injury on the track; it is slower and so much suffering is involved.

Was West End Rocker one of the fatalities? That's a personal guess, not based on anything I've heard.
 
Thats my first winner in the National! Probably been betting on it for about 20 years! Gutted as always about the ones who won't be returning home tonight though :(
 
Good post sonsheet

- don't buy the the way it is or part of the game comments frankly. Ill make my own mind up about whether I find it palatable or not. Takes me back to the eubank watson fight years ago. Cheering on eubank against the rather goody goody watson and look what happened next. Never wathced boxing since.

Its not the same of course but the constant carshing to thr ground of these animals is a spectacle I'm unsure about now. The fatalities hardly help
 
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I honestly, truly don't want you to think that I am disagreeing with you for the sake of a ruck, SL. I do understand what you're saying and in fact I used to say the very same thing myself twenty years ago. I agree losing them to illness and colic or any other accident is gut wrenching but I believe the difference is in the words 'accident' and 'illness' - those in general are events we can't control.

We can't, in all honesty, say the same about sending horses out racing. In the main, as long as they are well trained and have ability, I don't have any problems with it - NH or Flat. But I really do have a problem with the GN - too many horses, jockeys always get carried away for the first 5f or so by going too fast, so many loose horses hampering ridden ones - yes I am getting now to an age where I am finding it hard to justify when the main thrust of this race is that is one of the biggest betting races in the Calendar - so it is all about money and maybe not enough about what really is in the horse's best interests. Jason Maguire hit that horse far too many times as far as I am concerned on the run in and that, again, doesn't do our sport any favours.

Having just heard Clare Balding's summary, I think even she sounds a little deflated.
 
Two deceased according to BBC, Calgary Bay ok. This race is a bit of a love/hate thing - fantastic for the winner but gutted for those that have been lost. I've always thought that if I was an owner I'd rather win the National than the Gold Cup but if I'm ever in the position to have racers I really don't know if I'd have the balls to let the horse take its chance.

That aside, thought Sam W-C rode a great race and the third and fourth ran great races again. Good old State Of Play got me a little place money.
 
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There have been double fatalities in the race before, but the missing of fences pushes the fact in your face right in the middle of the race, making it so much shocking.

At some point the national is going to lose public support, and this could be a turning point.
 
> Having just heard Clare Balding's summary, I think even she sounds a little deflated.

I'm sure she was, she went straight to Twitter to post the news.
 
Cybrandian said:
At some point the national is going to lose public support, and this could be a turning point.
Click to expand...

Dunno about that. I used to be a once a year punter when I was a kid/teenager and Dark Ivy breaking his neck at Beechers was devastating to me at the time. I'd backed him and he was grey and because of that it stood out like a sore thumb - much worse than anything that happened today.
 
Balding did the right thing by informing on Twitter, given that the people doing the in-race summary did their best gloss over it. I wouldn't have a go at her over that...
 
I was the same in 1987. Didn't stop me getting into racing big time.

Something seems different now, that could be me or have times changed?
 
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