Aintree Grand National Meeting

Gamebird said:
I'm going to slightly disagree with you - the tight conditions for entry mean that they have to have form/ability to be entered, add that to the hoops that they have to jump through now in terms of the enhanced veterinary checks they have to have long before they even leave the yard and it is an awful lot of work, money and box-ticking to even get as far as the entry stage. I am not sure that any trainer will go through that for a no-hoper (and a true no-hoper wouldn't make the conditions of the race anyway).

It's probably hard as a punter as the results don't always tell the full story of what the jockey felt from the saddle, or the work that the horse does at home or when schooling. I could certainly make a case for pretty much all of the Mullins runners, and most of the Elliott ones. And certainly for places if not for the win. And every year long-priced horses fill the top 6. Look at Mon Mome winning at 100-1, or Balko des Flo's second a couple of years ago at 100-1. The pre-race analysis completely wrote both of these horses off, but they certainly justified their participation.
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I know they have upped vetting and checks, and the form guide isn't perfect and you do get long odds winners. But I just read the form guide for 1 in particular and wondered why they were entered as they sounded completely off form, however fit they were and in tough heavy going this year, thinking of public perception if the horse ran with, on paper, poor form then had a bad fall...
(can't remember who it was now)

However it went well, great finish, and really glad everyone is home safe.
 
Mynstrel said:
Bit of a story there, the owner sold his horses after his business went under and then died last year. He was only 63 I think it said.
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I have just read this on fb, and came back here to say this. How awful and terribly sad that he missed out on both of the National winners under those circumstances.
 
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Wow, what a National! The fences were smaller, the field was reduced in size( something that I always thought would improve safety) You could argue the whole thing had been watered down and not what it was but we have to accept that now, as public opinion and social licence will be the things that keep this historic race going. Despite or because of all that, it was a fantastic race.
 
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rabatsa said:
So they only want to listen to the cat loving vegans ideas for improving safety? Not the professionals who know the job?
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Why is it people demean people who are trying to make a change? I dont agree necessarily with how activists carry out their point, but I very much would like to see the grand national banned. Im not a vegan, but yes I love cats - and? Such a bizarre thing to say. Those "professionals" want the GN to run, no matter what the ground is/was like. They are only thinking about money. Please dont tell me they are 100% only thinking about horse welfare.

RIP the 2 racehorses who were killed yesterday.
 
MagicMelon said:
Why is it people demean people who are trying to make a change? I dont agree necessarily with how activists carry out their point, but I very much would like to see the grand national banned. Im not a vegan, but yes I love cats - and? Such a bizarre thing to say. Those "professionals" want the GN to run, no matter what the ground is/was like. They are only thinking about money. Please dont tell me they are 100% only thinking about horse welfare.

RIP the 2 racehorses who were killed yesterday.
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Which horses were killed yesterday ?
 
I think its going to be a lot more predictable now, so little to no point betting on those massive outsiders.

Was nice to see everyone come home safe though so those changes appear to have done what they were meant to do.
 
Jenko109 said:
I think its going to be a lot more predictable now, so little to no point betting on those massive outsiders.

Was nice to see everyone come home safe though so those changes appear to have done what they were meant to do.
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I think we will no longer have the days of shock results/big priced winners

It would be interesting to see the size of the jumps Vs the GN ones - the chase fences now look bigger and stiffer
 
Crazy_cat_lady said:
we will no longer have the days of shock results/big priced winners

It would be interesting to see the size of the jumps Vs the GN ones - the chase fences now look bigger and stiffer
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Obviously the guard rails are white now but they haven’t changed the fence dimensions of a standard chase fence. The Grand National info is from the Aintree website.

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MagicMelon said:
Why is it people demean people who are trying to make a change? I dont agree necessarily with how activists carry out their point, but I very much would like to see the grand national banned. Im not a vegan, but yes I love cats - and? Such a bizarre thing to say. Those "professionals" want the GN to run, no matter what the ground is/was like. They are only thinking about money. Please dont tell me they are 100% only thinking about horse welfare.

RIP the 2 racehorses who were killed yesterday.
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What 2 horses were killed yesterday?

I know 1 was lost at Chepstow but as far as I'm aware there were no fatalities at Aintree yesterday.
 
Not yesterday.

The Grand National was a great race, I really enjoyed it. The winner just looked as though he was thinking "what's all the fuss about?"
 
One of the best races for along time. Seemed more relaxed and had a good flow.

I only ever bet on the national, hubby and I got 1st and 2nd 👍
 
I enjoyed the race all the horses seemed to jump the fences very well and it was the first time I wasn’t feeling overly anxious about fallers. It was a fab finish as well. Remembering back to when I was a child in the days of red rum it always seemed a bit of a car crash with the huge number of runners and horses not up to the job. It definitely seems a much safer race now for the horses 🐎
 
What happened to Corach at the second fence? I saw a horse come down with what looked like a heavy fall, and thought the commentator must have missed it, as no fallers were called.

Only after the race did I realise that it was Corach, who was already riderless.
 
Tiddlypom said:
What happened to Corach at the second fence? I saw a horse come down with what looked like a heavy fall, and thought the commentator must have missed it, as no fallers were called.

Only after the race did I realise that it was Corach, who was already riderless.
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I haven’t rewatched it but someone said upthread he was brought down. He’s fine, thankfully.
 
The thing that I noticed the most (and what Ruby picked up on) was that the jockeys used more of the width of the course so that the horses could actually see what they were being asked to jump and weren't going in blind.

The reduced field size seemed to me to really make a difference along with the jockeys behaving more sensibly. Obviously there will still be bunching at the Canal Turn but the rail on the inside on the approach to the fence means that there is more room for the inner horses.

Great race and to have 8 (I think) coming into the last with a chance was wonderful to see.
 
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