Grand National fatalities

[TandD]

following on from the GN advert thread..........why are there so many fatalities? and why are the numbers building up as decades go on?

im not a racing guru (more of a dressage gal) but i dont mind the GN and do watch it every year. there is constant argument over deaths and this is understandable but it IS very hard to decide what is best and i can see both sides of the argument.

overall i think 69 horses have died since 1839 - so not huge amounts considering it has been run for nearly 200 years.
but nearly 1/2 of these deaths (33 of them) have happened since 1973......only 40 years - only about 1/5 of the time this race has been running
is this due to a more difficult course? less able horses? faster run race? the abilty of the jockey??? are the ideas of ground condidtion changing, with 'good' going being classed as 'soft' 100 years ago?
i dont think its field size, as this has varied from 27 to 40 - all resulting in the death of one or more of the runners.

it also seems that more deaths are occuring as the decades go on
with the worse in 1990 - 10 fatalities....
although with 4 deaths in only the current 2 years of 2010's - it may result in being the worst decade on record....

i dont want a thread where an argument over whether or not the GN is run please!, but rather why people think there are far more fatalities nowerdays than before? just curious and always wishing every horse goes home to its tea.

 

[TelH]

The safety measures are largely counter productive and make the race more dangerous. Horses are running over a course where fences have been lowered etc leading to increased speed and as the saying goes speed kills.

 

[Shysmum]

Oh dear - here we go. When is that DAMNED race over

 

[Blitzen]

Oh dear, it's that time of year already is it?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Popcorn?

 

[Baileybones]

Agree with Tehl but also the qualification is a major issue. Compare the gn with say Cheltenham gold cup. Gold cup sees the best of the best racing together. GN sees horses with minimal ability racing against better horses and of course their natural instinct kicks in and they try their hearts out. No race should ever have 200 - 1 horses.

 

[Cortez]

Not fond of any sport that results in the death of the non-voting partner, but I would imagine that it's the speeds that the race is now run at that causes the fatalities, as well as the perceived glamour of having a horse in the race, leading to so many entries and some that may not be capable.

 

[olop]

Oh dear, it's that time of year already is it?

Couldnt have said it better lol!!

 

[TandD]

thank you shysmum, blitzen and ekw, i, in no way, want to start an argument - far from it - i am merely curious on why deaths are going up....

i am neither for or against the race and will not be drawn into the argument
i purley wanted to know a bit more about the race and why there are more fatalisties than 100 years ago........i am not in anyway a racing fanatic and really havnt got a clue about racing

sorry if you treat this as a 'troll' post and believe i have written this for fun...

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

I personally put it down to breeding now. Everything is smaller, daintier, lighter and faster. Not the big, stocky hunters of yester year.

There are plenty of threads on this subect in the News section.

 

[katherinef]

More fatalities than 100 years ago? I am not entirely sure that is an accurate statement to be honest. Back in the early days of steeplechasing that's what they did - race steeple to steeple across country hence the name and not much was allowed to get in the way. The equine casualty rate must have been enormous. One of the early GN fences, now long gone, was a wall, they had to cross a stretch of plough and jump two hurdles. Field sizes were ridiculous - 66 starters in 1929 - so we've come a long way since then.

Concisely Aintree and all racecourses do their best to mitigate danger in what quite frankly is an extreme, dangerous sport. That's the thrill of it.

Lets get this year's race out of the way and see what the effects of Aintree's most recent safety measure are before entering a debate.

We need racing to be governed and regulated by racing not by hysterical media reports and organisations such as the RSPCA with their own agenda.

 

[Racergirl]

Agree with Tehl but also the qualification is a major issue. Compare the gn with say Cheltenham gold cup. Gold cup sees the best of the best racing together. GN sees horses with minimal ability racing against better horses and of course their natural instinct kicks in and they try their hearts out. No race should ever have 200 - 1 horses.

Actually - this isnt true any more. All horses entered have to be a certain rating to get in (think its about 120? EKW - you will probably know??) - and since the fences have been made smaller/easier/less drops there have been better and better horses entered, resulting in the lowest quality horse being able to get in the race still being good enough to be amongst the best handicappers around. The fairy stories just dont happen any more, mores the pity.

Apart from that - I agree with EKW, horses are bred tiny these days, there are very few people who breed for national hunt racing specifically any more, the old style of horse just dont do the job these days.

But they have said that the race will always be run on good to soft at the firmest from this year (not that it will be anywhere near good if it goes off this year!) and they will water to that effect if nececcary.