Grand National

[*shellac*]

How does anyone know they love doing it? They can hardly tell anyone if they do or don't.

Neigh once, like.  Neigh twice, don't like.  Neigh thrice, try again.

[cdbearsfan]

No fallers until the 7th and still 35 horses left at the 13th.   No fatalities.   Hopefully that will keep the naysayers quiet for a little while.

It was a success because no horse died. What a lovely race it is.

The horses are bred to race and they love doing it.  It's not like they are plucked out of a field and thrown in with the lions.   There are accidents in any form of horse racing and indeed riding in general.  Aintree have listened to their critics and have made some changes accordingly, for that at least they should be commended.

Haven't two horses died this week, at Aintree?

[Fergal]

No fallers until the 7th and still 35 horses left at the 13th.   No fatalities.   Hopefully that will keep the naysayers quiet for a little while.

It was a success because no horse died. What a lovely race it is.

The horses are bred to race and they love doing it.  It's not like they are plucked out of a field and thrown in with the lions.   There are accidents in any form of horse racing and indeed riding in general.  Aintree have listened to their critics and have made some changes accordingly, for that at least they should be commended.

Haven't two horses died this week, at Aintree?

It's only the Grand National that counts...

[richard moore]

No fallers until the 7th and still 35 horses left at the 13th.   No fatalities.   Hopefully that will keep the naysayers quiet for a little while.

It was a success because no horse died. What a lovely race it is.

The horses are bred to race and they love doing it.  It's not like they are plucked out of a field and thrown in with the lions.   There are accidents in any form of horse racing and indeed riding in general.  Aintree have listened to their critics and have made some changes accordingly, for that at least they should be commended.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. See any slight flaw in your argument perchance? That is a rare skill you have there being able to talk to animals, you need to get off here and make your fortune. What a success, no horses killed

[Dave Cooper please]

The horses are bred to race

Exactly. Ban racing and then no horses die.

On the contrary, if you ban racing a lot more horses will die as there will be no industry for them and nothing to sustain them.

No, there will be no need for thoroughbred race horses so they will gradually grow old and die naturally.
All that will happen is that a breed of horse that is in no way natural (like pit bull terriers in a way) will be phased out just like it was phased in just to jump fences.
Won't happen of course, too much money in it for the betting industry, horses die so bookies can make money.

[richard moore]

The horses are bred to race

Exactly. Ban racing and then no horses die.

On the contrary, if you ban racing a lot more horses will die as there will be no industry for them and nothing to sustain them.

No, there will be no need for thoroughbred race horses so they will gradually grow old and die naturally.
All that will happen is that a breed of horse that is in no way natural (like pit bull terriers in a way) will be phased out just like it was phased in just to jump fences.
Won't happen of course, too much money in it for the betting industry, horses die so bookies can make money.

Ah, the old fox hunting argument. Ban fox hunting and all those sweet little hounds will die.

Oh and don't forget, Radio 5 needs to have its annal story about how the eldest cousin of the winning rider's sister used to childmind the the daughter of the nephew of the woman who used to sweep out Red Rum's stable. I wonder how many people who bet on the race every year can even remember the name of the winner by Monday morning?

[Brend'Watkins]

Just noticed I backed the 4th place so £18 up on the race.

[taylorsworkrate]

Just kill every horse at birth. No arguments then.

[PeterWithesShin]

How does anyone know they love doing it? They can hardly tell anyone if they do or don't.

Neigh once, like.  Neigh twice, don't like.  Neigh thrice, try again.

So does that mean Amos Brearly wanted to run the Grand National?

[cdbearsfan]

Can they not just have horse racing without the jumps?

Anyone looking at a horse's leg for more than two seconds can see they're not designed for landing on with their full weight from a great height. I managed to break my ankle just walking and my ankle is probably three times as thick as a horse's!

[taylorsworkrate]

I'd just ban every sport.

[taylorsworkrate]

I'm a jumps racing fan, but don't particularly enjoy the national. It's a decent handicap race at best and despite the attempts to make the race safer, it can never be adequately so imo.

To add a little balance to the argument, over 6000 non thoroughbred horses were highlighted as at risk of neglect last winter. So whilst I respect the views of those anti racing, I don't think people truly understand just how badly non racing horses are treated in this country.

[usav]

No, there will be no need for thoroughbred race horses so they will gradually grow old and die naturally.
All that will happen is that a breed of horse that is in no way natural (like pit bull terriers in a way) will be phased out just like it was phased in just to jump fences.
Won't happen of course, too much money in it for the betting industry, horses die so bookies can make money.

if you ban horse racing, you will have thousands of horses that will need to be killed as there will be no industry to sustain them.  As taylorsworkrate said, thousands of non-racing horses were at danger of neglect last year, who is going to take in all the retired race horses?

[usav]

Can they not just have horse racing without the jumps?

I hate to tell you this, but they can break their legs in flat racing as well.......as they can in a pasture or a field.

[Fergal]

No, there will be no need for thoroughbred race horses so they will gradually grow old and die naturally.
All that will happen is that a breed of horse that is in no way natural (like pit bull terriers in a way) will be phased out just like it was phased in just to jump fences.
Won't happen of course, too much money in it for the betting industry, horses die so bookies can make money.

if you ban horse racing, you will have thousands of horses that will need to be killed as there will be no industry to sustain them.  As taylorsworkrate said, thousands of non-racing horses were at danger of neglect last year, who is going to take in all the retired race horses?

So it is self perpetuating then?
Perhaps it can be phased out over a few years, won't happen of course as there is too much money involved.