scratching my head, another GN thread.

[Paris1]

Just wondering why this year has there has been such a public outcry of the grand national deaths. Do horses not die every year. I think its because the two horses, rest their souls, were featured in the build up.
This is not another for or against the Gn thread!

 

[Maesfen]

I'm wondering if it was so much was made of the 'new improved' safety features at the insistence of the RSPCA and others and it proved just how useless those were in practice so people feel let down. Although TBF, neither horse was a result of those safety measures just sheer accidents.

 

[Paris1]

My non horsey sister texted me and said, oh no, was that the cute one than ran away at the begining?
I just don't remember it being so consistently on main news in past years.

 

[tallyho!]

This year? I remember it being just as bad last year and the year before that....

 

[Paris1]

I must have just missed it before.

 

[Miss L Toe]

Last year there was an outcry because so many died, but also the winning jockey was banned for five days [I think] due to hitting the horse on the run in, he contravened jockey Club rules, but people don't like to see a horse hit too much/relentlessly/ unnecessarily/ too much.
This one incident caused a new whip rule to be introduced.

 

[touchstone]

In my view I think that the way racing is televised and available online now has a lot to do with it. People are given information on the horse's daily routine and see them at home; when falls happen it is often much more graphic coverage than it was years ago, cameras used to seem to follow the leaders and rarely focused in on fallersas they do nowadays . The negatives as well as the positives are highlighted.