Grand National, is it wrong?

[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by Neil

It is because the National is hyped into such a bit event and the deaths of the horses had a lot of tv coverage.

Its like the footballer who had a hear attack on the field and everyone was wishing him well. 124,000 people have heart attacks every year but that one had a lot of tv coverage so most people knew about that one heart attack.

How many heart attacks occur during football matches - not many at all. Every year horses die at the Grand National. Every weekend people don't collapse while playing professional league football from heartattacks.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by racerlass

hi all. im not normally on here but thought id join purely to give my point of view as i work for a very sucessfull trainer. i was also present on sat as we had horses there. what happened to the boys was just awful. nobody likes seeing a horse injured fatally and those of us who work with and look after them are always devastated when something horrible happens. believe me there is nothing worse than returning baxk to the yard without the boy or girl you look after on a daily basis. alot has been made about synchronised ''throwing'' tony and ''bolting'' off. first of all he did not throw him, he simply shyed, moved a quick step to the side and dropped his shoulder. this happens to riders all over on a daily basis. a horse shying is the same as something making you jump. its an involuntary movement. sync than decided to go for a little outing. he didnt bolt off, bolting is galloping flat out normally in a panic. he simply went for a canter. he didnt appear to be distressed. he was on his toes and having a look round on his way back up, most ,likely wondering where his friends had disappeared too! racehorse are always ridden out in strings together. they dont like being alone. so when he was backing off the fence when tony was trying to show it to him it was a simple case of him wanting to get back to the group. my personal opinion is that he shouldnt have been entered. he had won the gold cup a month earlier. i believe he should have been left until next season. i find it very upsetting that some people believe all aspects of racing are bad. i cant make excuses for what happened on sat but i can assure you they love what they do, they are not in anyway abused, they want for nothing and they recieve top quality care from everyone involved from us lads and lasses right throught to massage people and vets. i dont believe lowering the fences would be a good idea. bechers has been lowered and i actually believe it has caused more problems as now ather than spreading out across the whole fence evryone was trying to jump it on the inside which im sure contributed to pete being brought down by another horse. my personal opinion is the main thing that needs changing is the size of the field. ive looked i to satistics and even a 5 horse reduction would appear to make a much safer race. i hope i have cleared up a few things regarding the start of the race for you and i hope tyou will also believe me when i say everyone involved with these horses loves them very much, right from the rich owners to us lads and lasses

I'm not really a race fan but thanks for that, sure explains a lot of misconceptions

[lindsay ormerod]

Originally Posted by shillelagh

i put my money on my horses and one of them died .. but this happens every year that they complain about the national .. that the course is too tough ... but the fences are supposed to replicate what they would come across when out hunting ... thats why its called a national hunt race. Could it be theres more publicity about the deaths because one of them was the Gold Cup winner?

one question for lindsay though .. you said you're not having a bet on the race next year because of the 2 horses that died .. but yet 2 horses died last year and you had a bet on the race this year ...

I felt that this year there was something obviously wrong with " Synchronised", it wasn't happy, it didn't want to race, dunno but it bothered me this year.

[lindsay ormerod]

And I've been following the reactions of those involved, maybe if the field was reduced to say 25 and more adjustments to the fences we could all enjoy it for what it is and not worry about the outcome. ( Just to add that Sunnyhillboy who came second has spent the week in horse hospital after having surgery to repair tendon damage caused in the race...)

[Guinness]

Originally Posted by lindsay ormerod

And I've been following the reactions of those involved, maybe if the field was reduced to say 25 and more adjustments to the fences we could all enjoy it for what it is and not worry about the outcome. ( Just to add that Sunnyhillboy who came second has spent the week in horse hospital after having surgery to repair tendon damage caused in the race...)

On the adjustment to fences thing...

Listened to Mick Fitzgerald the other day, he said one of the problems has been caused by tinkering with fences, he singled out Beechers.

He said before the alterations, the jockeys spread out, because the course was sloped and the wider you took the jump the less the drop was, but now it was even all the way across which caused jockeys to bunch up to take the shortest route