Syncronized dies in the national

[BadFish]

interesting article from 2006

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/another-horse-died-at-aintree-yesterday-the-number-of-deaths-in-racing-in-the-past-year-is-now-180-473428.html

[MENTION=12225]MacKenzie[/MENTION] you are obviously in the business and treat your horses with respect.

Do you think their are stables out their who treat their horses badly and only respect those that will make them money?

It appears to me that something needs to be addressed in racing as public opinion seems to be turning and beginning to frown on practices within the industry. Do you think that the governing body should bring in regulations about how horses are treated?

Back to the national. What do you think should be done about it? I believe in many states in Australia that jumps racing has been banned, I guess this would be a hard thing to do when the most famous race in the UK is a jumps race.

 

[hola gus]

You feel for the owners? The same owners who knowingly send their horse out to run in a race that could potentially kill something they love. Would they send their children out to somewhere they knew they might die? They love money and status more than they love that horse.

Crazy idiotic post. Yes thousands of parents allow their children to do a hobby or sport where they know there death is a possibility. Doesn't make them bad parents.

 

[Questions]

I have never eaten horse meat. What does it taste like ?
I,d probably give it a try if I saw it on a menu in Italy - apparently they are the biggest consumers of it in Europe.

 

[Tooting Gull]

One thing I don't believe for a second is that money is at the root of decisions to race. Racehorse ownership is a rich man's game, and a way of them spending their leisure time. They don't do it for financial gain, if that comes it is a bonus. They are seduced by the idea of glory in a big race more, IMHO.

 

[Mackenzie]

interesting article from 2006

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/another-horse-died-at-aintree-yesterday-the-number-of-deaths-in-racing-in-the-past-year-is-now-180-473428.html

[MENTION=12225]MacKenzie[/MENTION] you are obviously in the business and treat your horses with respect.

Do you think their are stables out their who treat their horses badly and only respect those that will make them money? I can only speak from my experience. There must be trainers who treat their horses badly, but I would say they are the exception. Race horses need to be fit and well looked after, and the work that goes into their well being is everything. The horses come first. Remember that the trainers get the same money to train a fast horse as a slow one.

It appears to me that something needs to be addressed in racing as public opinion seems to be turning and beginning to frown on practices within the industry. Do you think that the governing body should bring in regulations about how horses are treated? What sort of regulations do you mean, racing rules or general horse welfare? If you mean racing rules I guess the most contentious aspect is the whip rules which have been changed recently. My take on the whip is that it should be carried for steering purposes only. As for horse welfare, I believe that most trainers look after their horses well, but those who do mistreat horses should not be allowed to train, own or have anything to do with them. If we need new regulation to catch these people then I'm all for it.

Back to the national. What do you think should be done about it? I believe in many states in Australia that jumps racing has been banned, I guess this would be a hard thing to do when the most famous race in the UK is a jumps race. Reducing the height of the jumps, the size of the field, the distance of the race and ensuring a good racing surface would all help to make it safer for the horses. The only way of ensuring that no horses are injured in the race is to stop running it. I expect that when push comes to shove the BHA will go for making it safer rather than an outright ban. If the public opinion is strong enough then changes will be made. Did the lack of good/soft going in certain Australian states have anything to do with its banning?

I'm in the industry in so much as my father has had race horses in the past (of varying abilities!) and I've got a couple of retired racers which I ride. My best friend is a retired trainer (who I don't ride). My passion isn't jump racing, I stick to what I know which is low grade all weather racing

 

[Mackenzie]

One thing I don't believe for a second is that money is at the root of decisions to race. Racehorse ownership is a rich man's game, and a way of them spending their leisure time. They don't do it for financial gain, if that comes it is a bonus. They are seduced by the idea of glory in a big race more, IMHO.

You're not wrong there. The prize money now is less than it was thirty years ago!

 

[clapham_gull]

I have never eaten horse meat. What does it taste like ?
I,d probably give it a try if I saw it on a menu in Italy - apparently they are the biggest consumers of it in Europe.

48,000 metric tonnes eaten every year.

 

[Mtoto]

Mtoto, I know you know your racing, and you put forward a very impassioned case for the defence of this race. I love jump racing myself, I was at Plumpton on Monday, go to Cheltenham as you know, although I wouldn't claim by any means to be an expert.

The one issue I have with the National is that 'racing people' are too close to it, and can't see the way the trend is going. It used to be the case that the National was a great thing you could all watch and enjoy as a family. Nowadays, many adults and kids alike (and this may be down to awareness, rather than stats) actually either don't want to watch because they fear fatalities, or watch with held breath hoping no horse dies. That is not the way this race was designed to be watched and enjoyed.

Again yesterday, the high-profile fatalities overshadowed the victory. I genuinely believe that this acceptance of risk, however small, is not shared by the wider public and more changes have to be made, starting with cutting it to 30 runners. There will be howls from the racing establishment, not exactly the most progressive of people I'm sure you'd agree, but if they don't do it the government may do it for them. And if that happens, it may affect other races.

Not all that impassioned in all honesty, just trying to get a few facts straight to put things in perspective.
I agree with you in many respects, and in particular I'm heartily sick of having to defend racing as a whole - which is 10,000 races every year - as a result of one contest at Aintree in April which bears little or no relation to the other 99.99pc of the programme.
LIke you, I'd also expect it to be the case that parents might be more squeamish about watching the National with their children these days. The odd thing though is that even after all the grief last year, the viewing figures were up this year by nearly 25pc, from about 8m to over 10m.
Given that the Mail among others were asking "Is this the end for the National?" 12 months ago, the answer would seem to be an emphatic no. Betting turnover was also at or above last year's levels, and the racecourse sold out months ago.

 

[Tooting Gull]

Not all that impassioned in all honesty, just trying to get a few facts straight to put things in perspective.
I agree with you in many respects, and in particular I'm heartily sick of having to defend racing as a whole - which is 10,000 races every year - as a result of one contest at Aintree in April which bears little or no relation to the other 99.99pc of the programme.
LIke you, I'd also expect it to be the case that parents might be more squeamish about watching the National with their children these days. The odd thing though is that even after all the grief last year, the viewing figures were up this year by nearly 25pc, from about 8m to over 10m.
Given that the Mail among others were asking "Is this the end for the National?" 12 months ago, the answer would seem to be an emphatic no. Betting turnover was also at or above last year's levels, and the racecourse sold out months ago.

You get a percentage of the Formula One audience who slightly ghoulishly watch for the crashes. Maybe there is an element of this for the Grand National too. It is a conundrum that is hard to solve. By far the biggest race of the year in terms of viewing and popular appeal is also by far the most dangerous. Is that WHY it is the most popular? Probably, in part. Would it STILL be as popular even if it wasn't so dangerous? Probably not. But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be changes.

I just think we saw with fox hunting that a self-appointed metropolitan elite can stop this stuff if they decide to, though I would acknowledge a big difference here is that it is the people's race they would be taking on with 10m viewers, rather than a few toffs.

 

[Questions]

Not all that impassioned in all honesty, just trying to get a few facts straight to put things in perspective.
I agree with you in many respects, and in particular I'm heartily sick of having to defend racing as a whole - which is 10,000 races every year - as a result of one contest at Aintree in April which bears little or no relation to the other 99.99pc of the programme.

Don't forget Cheltenham - 5 destroyed there last month.

 

[BadFish]

I'm in the industry in so much as my father has had race horses in the past (of varying abilities!) and I've got a couple of retired racers which I ride. My best friend is a retired trainer (who I don't ride). My passion isn't jump racing, I stick to what I know which is low grade all weather racing

Thanks, I wonder if some of the more moderate and sane animal welfare groups could be brought in as part of the process to regulate the sport in order to find some common ground. My feeling is that public opinion is turning against the sport. I have no problem with horse racing and don't believe it is inherently dangerous for horses to race, in fact as has been mentioned many times on here it is their instinct and they enjoy it.

However there does seem to be much evidence of cruelty and dangerous practice being made public which I think racing as an industry needs to take heed of. As someone else said there are powerful lobby groups working on behalf of animals who, if ignored can cause huge problems.

So surely some sort of compromise and honesty is required in order for the sport to continue with a healthy reputation. Some sort of recognition of malpractice would be a start then those involved can be dealt with accordingly. Surely what everyone wants is a racing industry in which horses do not needlessly die (accepting that accidents will happen).