Grand national

Can’t see this going ahead

 

Good.

 

Good to see a Scottish horse winning it.

 

It will be haggis first time it loses

 

It will be glue next time it loses

 

What I want to know is how come people who protested today we're all arrested straight away and removed, including those protesting outside on the road, but when climate change protesters sat in the middle of the road stopping ordinary people going to work a few months ago the police claimed they were powerless to stop it.

I guess it depends on how rich the people being affected are

 

what an horrendous spectacle the race was though, like carnage, needs to be reduced to field of 31

 

The pundits were saying some cringeworthy stuff while the protest was delaying the start, trying to take the moral high road about horse welfare. "A horse is as likely to injure itself in a field as it is in a race." Sure, it's as dangerous gambolling freely in a meadow as it is being thrashed by some angry shortarse over massive jumps in close proximity to a load of other horses.

A couple a year tend to end up as Tesco lasagne; at least have the honesty to admit you think the deaths are worth the spectacle, don't insult people's intelligence trying to justify it.

 

How many times are they going to say they are going to sort out this bloody course though?
Three horse deaths at one meet, including one with a broken neck in the main event , just so folk can have a day at the races , can’t be right for me!

 

Totally agree Marc. These are people who love themselves only. How much money can I win, how much booze can i down, how can i look good in front of other people. The poor horses are just an afterthought. But it's TrAdItIOn...

 

In the previous nine races since the modications to the fences there have been a total of 17 falls/dismounts at the first two fences, an average of less than two a race. Yesterday there were eight, including the fatality. It's hard to argue that this was caused by anything other than the detrimental conditions to the start of the race, as a consequence of the selfish and criminal actions of a bunch of mornoic attention seekers with zero regard for the impact on the animals they claim they were trying to protect. These idiots might as well have killed that horse themselves. Utter scumbags, I hope they get the strongest possible penalty under law.

 

There weren’t any protest when the other two horses died

 

Do horses not die in flat races ?

 

I don't like horse racing full stop. I don’t agree with people gluing themselves to motorways though, don't get me wrong.

 

There was a crowd of 65,000 there to watch the race. Not all of them were rich. Not difficult to imagine a serious public order situation developing.

 

Really? Personally I'd blame the people making the horses jump over dangerous fences.

 

Why

 

The deaths are tragic and there needs to be a long hard look at jump racing in my opinion. The welfare of the animal has to be front and centre - seems like an afterthought at the minute.

I'd also like to see them ban use of whips. I know it can only be used a limited number of times (6 or 7, I think) but I don't see why it should be used at all.

 

Well I'll state my piece and then I'm done.
I bet on horses, study form, watch it on tv and occasionally go to a race meeting. I like to win money on it and like the thrill of having my 'skill' in form study rewarded.
However, for some time I have thought that jump racing should be gradually phased out and eventually banned. It's far too dangerous. Period. The horses I do think enjoy racing BUT they have no say and the rate of severe injury and deaths they suffer in jumps racing is truly terrible. I once knew the stats but can't remember them. The Grand National is the worst culprit but there are fatalities all year round and massively so in jumps racing. The welfare of the animals on balance is therefore, for me, not the main priority even though its often touted as such. The money involved in betting, prizes, corporate entertainment, tax and maintenance of the industry trumps the concern for the horses.
I'd keep flat racing since serious injury and death are far less frequent and indeed if this aspect of racing was to be kept it would still mean there was an industry for peoples' livelihoods. There would still be money to be made, people could still go racing etc but there would be a massive fall in the numbers of dead horses every year. I think that's more worthwhile than getting a few minutes thrill from watching jumping at Cheltenham or Aintree (even though I wouldn't be able to bet on those festivals).