Grand National Aintree Festival 2023

[Derek27]

It wont happen but those protesters should be charged with endangering the lives of Jockeys and Horses. Minimum 5 years in prison after getting 100 strokes of the birch and 2 hours of water boarding.

They should be lined against a wall and shot!

[greenmark]

Racings problem is the BHA are consistently trying to appease people like Animal Rising, people like Animal Rising won't accept anything less than a total horse racing ban along with everyone eating organic carrot and coriander soup morning noon and night so no point even trying to appease them.

BHA needs to tell them to f@ck off and concentrate on people involved in racing.

Lets hope all the criminal activists from Saturday are charged, brought before the courts and made an example of.

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

[sionascaig]

The attrition rate on flats is c40% for 2yo's in training (leg injuries). Pushing to hard maybe?

Have a friend with 4 horses in training (flat). Over the last 2 years his horses have had 2 broken legs & 1 burst tendon as well as multiple other injuries / accidents none of which occurred in racing.

All the horses are "fine" as he is more than willing to pay the vet bills but not convinced some owners fully meet their responsibilities.

The retired horses all now enjoying themselves (albeit) in early retirement.

[Derek27]

Racings problem is the BHA are consistently trying to appease people like Animal Rising, people like Animal Rising won't accept anything less than a total horse racing ban along with everyone eating organic carrot and coriander soup morning noon and night so no point even trying to appease them.

BHA needs to tell them to f@ck off and concentrate on people involved in racing.

Lets hope all the criminal activists from Saturday are charged, brought before the courts and made an example of.

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

Flat racing's just as dangerous. Horses break legs on the flat and suffer worse injuries when they go down due to the speed. You can't ban one and not the other.

Have any of the animal rights nutters said what we'll do with 20,000 horses and how the economy will cope with over 250,000 people out of work?

[Archery1969]

Racings problem is the BHA are consistently trying to appease people like Animal Rising, people like Animal Rising won't accept anything less than a total horse racing ban along with everyone eating organic carrot and coriander soup morning noon and night so no point even trying to appease them.

BHA needs to tell them to f@ck off and concentrate on people involved in racing.

Lets hope all the criminal activists from Saturday are charged, brought before the courts and made an example of.

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

Flat racing's just as dangerous. Horses break legs on the flat and suffer worse injuries when they go down due to the speed. You can't ban one and not the other.

Have any of the animal rights nutters said what we'll do with 20,000 horses and how the economy will cope with over 250,000 people out of work?

Ban horse racing
Ban greyhound racing
Ban boxing
Ban rugby
Ban smoking
Ban booze
Ban anyone that doesn’t pay their TV licence

[greenmark]

Racings problem is the BHA are consistently trying to appease people like Animal Rising, people like Animal Rising won't accept anything less than a total horse racing ban along with everyone eating organic carrot and coriander soup morning noon and night so no point even trying to appease them.

BHA needs to tell them to f@ck off and concentrate on people involved in racing.

Lets hope all the criminal activists from Saturday are charged, brought before the courts and made an example of.

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

Flat racing's just as dangerous. Horses break legs on the flat and suffer worse injuries when they go down due to the speed. You can't ban one and not the other.

Have any of the animal rights nutters said what we'll do with 20,000 horses and how the economy will cope with over 250,000 people out of work?

I know flat racing is also hazardous for horses and jockey's. I've seen it.
The issue for me is it seems cruel to selectively breed animals to be fast but fragile. And then train the horses to go full pelt.
Is there not reasonable debate to be had here?
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe greyhound racing has similar issues, I really don't know.
But watching a horse crash and try to recover and knowing it will be put down due to the cost/difficulty of fixing it's injuries is a very difficult thing for me.

[greenmark]

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

Flat racing's just as dangerous. Horses break legs on the flat and suffer worse injuries when they go down due to the speed. You can't ban one and not the other.

Have any of the animal rights nutters said what we'll do with 20,000 horses and how the economy will cope with over 250,000 people out of work?

Ban horse racing
Ban greyhound racing
Ban boxing
Ban rugby
Ban smoking
Ban booze
Ban anyone that doesn’t pay their TV licence

Ony two of those don't include the choice of the particapants.
And some would say boxing also doesn't involve the choice of the participants. But that's a whole different debate with nothing to do with the Grand National.

[Michael5482]

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

Flat racing's just as dangerous. Horses break legs on the flat and suffer worse injuries when they go down due to the speed. You can't ban one and not the other.

Have any of the animal rights nutters said what we'll do with 20,000 horses and how the economy will cope with over 250,000 people out of work?

I know flat racing is also hazardous for horses and jockey's. I've seen it.
The issue for me is it seems cruel to selectively breed animals to be fast but fragile. And then train the horses to go full pelt.
Is there not reasonable debate to be had here?
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe greyhound racing has similar issues, I really don't know.
But watching a horse crash and try to recover and knowing it will be put down due to the cost/difficulty of fixing it's injuries is a very difficult thing for me.

I don't think there's any middle ground your either pro racing or your not. The racing community aren't going to convince the anti-racing groups and vice-versa.

Racing in a nutshell is as you described animals selectively bred to race that comes with risks to both horse and jockey which anyone can accept or not

I have no issue in people protesting peacefully or not wanting anything to do with horse racing and you raise the issues why you don't like it which I respect and understand but I do have issue with groups who deliberately spoil people's enjoyment of racing trying to force there views onto them while breaking the law.

[Derek27]

Protesters disrupt the Snooker Championship, cruelly to snooker balls!

[greenmark]

Flat racing's just as dangerous. Horses break legs on the flat and suffer worse injuries when they go down due to the speed. You can't ban one and not the other.

Have any of the animal rights nutters said what we'll do with 20,000 horses and how the economy will cope with over 250,000 people out of work?

I know flat racing is also hazardous for horses and jockey's. I've seen it.
The issue for me is it seems cruel to selectively breed animals to be fast but fragile. And then train the horses to go full pelt.
Is there not reasonable debate to be had here?
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe greyhound racing has similar issues, I really don't know.
But watching a horse crash and try to recover and knowing it will be put down due to the cost/difficulty of fixing it's injuries is a very difficult thing for me.

I don't think there's any middle ground your either pro racing or your not. The racing community aren't going to convince the anti-racing groups and vice-versa.

Racing in a nutshell is as you described animals selectively bred to race that comes with risks to both horse and jockey which anyone can accept or not

I have no issue in people protesting peacefully or not wanting anything to do with horse racing and you raise the issues why you don't like it which I respect and understand but I do have issue with groups who deliberately spoil people's enjoyment of racing trying to force there views onto them while breaking the law.

Fairly put.
I don't actually agree with law-breaking. But sometimes people feel compelled to do exactly that, regardless of the consequences. Not sure we're at the level that requires these kind of demo's, it does feel a bit neurotic. But perhaps there is a discussion that the BHA and govt should have.

[Archery1969]

Horses are bred to race, it’s in their DNA. Same as greyhounds. Of course it’s upsetting when things go wrong.

But most people don’t understand animal DNA. My beagle hates foxes, she goes mad knowing their in the garden and late at night I open the back door and I swear she going to break ghee front let’s chasing them. I didn’t train her to do that, never would.

As Derek sad, what you going to do with all the horses and greyhounds, put them down and horse/dog meat is suddenly on the menu.

What about all those employed in the industries, suddenly going to get a job raising wind turbines. I don’t think so.

Why do you think horses keep running and jumping when the jockey is unseated, because they love racing.

If you want a perfect world whereby harm comes to nobody or anything then build a rocket to Mars or something.

Looking forward to how Labour going to fix all this as apparently they going to fix everything in just one term in office.

[arbitrage16]

Looking forward to how Labour going to fix all this as apparently they going to fix everything in just one term in office.

Good point. Will definitely take more than one term to undo all of the damage from 13 years of Tory incompetence.

[Simoba]

Racings problem is the BHA are consistently trying to appease people like Animal Rising, people like Animal Rising won't accept anything less than a total horse racing ban along with everyone eating organic carrot and coriander soup morning noon and night so no point even trying to appease them.

BHA needs to tell them to f@ck off and concentrate on people involved in racing.

Lets hope all the criminal activists from Saturday are charged, brought before the courts and made an example of.

I'm not a vegan and have to confess I don't bet on jumps at all, so I have no vested interest, which I'm sure some others do. But I stopped watching jumps racing a long time ago because I was confronted with images that I will never be able to forget. Terrible injuries happen to horses (and jockeys) too often. The debate SHOULD be about whether this kind of racing should happen.

And I think I agree with the protesters. Why selectiveley breed animals to be fast but fragile and then push them beyond their limits?

Totally understand your sentiments with that. Last time I went to a NH meeting, a horse broke it's neck right in front of us in the home straight, it was absolutely horrible. We all know accidents happen and that racehorses are generally very well cared for during their careers, however to see a horse fatally fall so close up, it really does make your question if it is something you wish to support. I know plenty of horsey people, who ride for leisure, they are more against the racing industry (both Flat and NH) than most people I know.

[Archery1969]

Looking forward to how Labour going to fix all this as apparently they going to fix everything in just one term in office.

Good point. Will definitely take more than one term to undo all of the damage from 13 years of Tory incompetence.

History shows voters have very short memories, Labour will only be in for one term as, if they start borrowing heavily then credit rating firms will downgrade the UK, debt costs will spiral. Then they will be voted out in 2028 and so politics continues.

Nobody saw the pandemic coming or Ukraine war. Some things you can’t plan for. We’re mistakes made, yes but everyone makes mistakes, governments are no different.

If anyone thinks Labour will come along to save the country then they deluded.

I remember when Labour left a note saying there was no money left. When the come to power this time around the note will say, there’s no money, it’s already minus £800 billion and counting. That means Labour won’t be able to do anything they planned too.

[Naffman]

From what I’ve seen it even seems 50/50 of racing twitter wants the GN to be amended in some way, so I imagine those with no vested interest in the race will have been horrified. Hell even those who watch jumps day in day out said it was a dreadful watch on Saturday.

And as for Sandy Thomson saying the protesters caused his horse to die at the first, what a complete pillock! He even said his horse was too hyped up in the parade but still proceeded to run him.

Those also saying ‘3 horses died at the meeting not in the National!’, wow what a great achievement so at least one horse every meeting will die is just a shocking statistic.

And then we have news yesterday Robyn Brisland along with a senior member of staff have been bullying their employees, racing needs to shape up and quick.