Grand National Aintree Festival 2023

[Archangel]

[quote=Archery1969 post_id=326759

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.
[/quote]

Just as well we have a Conservative government where that sort of fiscal incompetence would never happen

[Derek27]

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.

This is the Grand National thread.

[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.

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.

Crikey, this is so biased and delusional it's quite remarkable. The straw manning is mindbending! 19 out of the poorest 20 towns in Europe are in the UK. That is years of mismanagement and cronyism by the ruling party. The idea that it's due to "mistakes" or black swan events is ludicrous.

It appears you are guilty of quite odious tribalism - rather than looking at the situation objectively and understanding that both sides of the aisle are a disgrace, you want to point fingers at the "other" side and talk about an imaginary future where they will screw up just as badly.

[Euler]

This is not a political thread, if you want to argue about politics there is a non sports thread for that.

We are going to delete any non Grand National content on this thread.

[Simoba]

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.

I did think what Sandy Thomson said was utterly ridiculous. If the horse was that buzzed up, then withdraw it on welfare / safety grounds.

Moving forwards, does a younger and more aware generation, have the interest or appetite to sustain horse racing long term? The big meetings I think will always remain in some form (too much money to be made), however as the older generation fade away, I cannot see racing surviving in its current form. Time will tell......

[sionascaig]

Moving forwards, does a younger and more aware generation, have the interest or appetite to sustain horse racing long term? ....

Someone passed me a copy of the Tote Top 20 leader board for the Aintree festival and going by the names on it, it was certainly lacking in diversity. Would be willing to put a significant wager that all were male (by birth), over 50 & white...

Pretty sure there must be some marketing opportunities there for sure.

[Euler]

I've argued for ages that racing needs to attract a new generation, but racing is quite stuck in the past.

I've spoken to them several times when I've had the chance, but they never seemed very interested. It felt a bit like a closed shop. I think that's one of the key problems.

[jimibt]

I've argued for ages that racing needs to attract a new generation, but racing is quite stuck in the past.

I've spoken to them several times when I've had the chance, but they never seemed very interested. It felt a bit like a closed shop. I think that's one of the key problems.

sadly, as quite an expensive sport (at the higher end), it's fairly obvious that the demography of the main parties are going to reflect the bias of the stakeholders.. hopefully, things will evolve (and that includes both social and racial diversity within).

maybe there just is little appetite for animal based sports in a generation that are exploring innovative veganism and 3 printed meat free food alternatives!! etc....

[greenmark]

I've argued for ages that racing needs to attract a new generation, but racing is quite stuck in the past.

I've spoken to them several times when I've had the chance, but they never seemed very interested. It felt a bit like a closed shop. I think that's one of the key problems.

sadly, as quite an expensive sport (at the higher end), it's fairly obvious that the demography of the main parties are going to reflect the bias of the stakeholders.. hopefully, things will evolve (and that includes both social and racial diversity within).

maybe there just is little appetite for animal based sports in a generation that are exploring innovative veganism and 3 printed meat free food alternatives!! etc....

Racing had passed me by until maybe 7 years ago. Then I started watching races and within months I'd seen 2 or 3 horrble crashes. The I stopped watching and tried to understand what I'd seen.
My conclusion was if we designed a sport that resulted in these deaths we come up with the Isle of Man TT. The HUGE difference is that the horse racing deaths are of willing, worthy animals that trust us.
The TT deaths are of people that KNOW the risks of what they're doing.

[Euler]

I upset my family last night by point out that my brother in laws wife was on Facebook talking about the death of a horse at Aintree. But she herself lost a horse after a fall when she was riding it. I fail to see the difference.

Should we ban all pets?

[Emmson]

They do seem an insular lot the racing fraternity, society is changing and they better be open to change or they will be swept away. Some of these racing folk even think it should disconnect from the betting side of it as it that would help, from my vantage point that would destroy the sport forever in one fell swoop.

Remember show jumping was always on ther box when I was a nipper, where is it now?

[greenmark]

I upset my family last night by point out that my brother in laws wife was on Facebook talking about the death of a horse at Aintree. But she herself lost a horse after a fall when she was riding it. I fail to see the difference.

Should we ban all pets?

Well the data is skimpy and anecdotal and from the BHA quite spinny. Criticising AA for including euthanasia in their figures is a pushing it a bit, isn't it. These animals are euthanased because they are no longer economically viable for the sport.
And it doesn't just happen at race meetings it's part and parcel of the training process. There is an expected loss of life during training due to accidents and discovery of a physical defect that makes a horse useful to nobody.

Horses are a big problem to fix, I understand.

I was wondering how may horses are lost in showjumping accidents, but searching didn't really reveal anything definitive.

I just look at racehorses and they are long-legged, elegent animals. Showjumpers are more bred for being the horse equivalent of a 4WD. They jump when commanded. Hurdlers and Chasers are asked a lot. I wouldn't ask a pet to do that.
But I have had pets that were the equivalent of extreme sport participants. They just loved acitvity that probably wasn't the best choice.

So it's something that does require debate to flush out the best compromise for all.

[wearthefoxhat]

They do seem an insular lot the racing fraternity, society is changing and they better be open to change or they will be swept away. Some of these racing folk even think it should disconnect from the betting side of it as it that would help, from my vantage point that would destroy the sport forever in one fell swoop.

Remember show jumping was always on ther box when I was a nipper, where is it now?

If that happened, each racecourse (those that remained open) would be run like Point-to-Point tracks. A select few, connected, that own a horse for the craic and the chance to win a £3 cup/dish along with £500 first prize money.

Betting of sorts would be available, at 160% overround but only as a service to cater for a the £10's and £20's type punters that aren't value hunters.

Of course the prize of owning a future Cheltenham/Aintree Foxhunter champion might still be available, but there would no TV coverage or large crowds to witness it.

The question would be; Remember horse racing was always in the box when I was a nipper, where is it now? and whatever happened to that Mark Johnston fella?

[The Silk Run]

I don't know much about this subject but is it just thoroughbred Horse Racing under attack by animal rights campaigners.
Does it include eventing, dressage, polo, p2p, etc. I know hunting has been under attack for a long time.
I'm not entirely sure where this is heading, in United Kingdom that is !!! You already have Horse & Hounds chasing decoy scents, and greyhounds chasing a Duracell Hare on a lure. Next they will have remote controlled robot jockeys on Race Horses.
Hmmmmmm ......

[Simoba]

I don't know much about this subject but is it just thoroughbred Horse Racing under attack by animal rights campaigners.
Does it include eventing, dressage, polo, p2p, etc. I know hunting has been under attack for a long time.
I'm not entirely sure where this is heading, in United Kingdom that is !!! You already have Horse & Hounds chasing decoy scents, and greyhounds chasing a Duracell Hare on a lure. Next they will have remote controlled robot jockeys on Race Horses.
Hmmmmmm ......

Unfortunately horses and hounds are not chasing decoy scents. They are still actively (and illegally) hunting. It was on the news tonight apparently, I have not seen it so cannot comment, just saw it on social media earlier.
https://twitter.com/ChrisGPackham/statu ... lang=en-GB
https://twitter.com/ChrisGPackham/statu ... qhoeAtAAAA

If this is true, you really do wonder what makes some people tick, how their time is spent deliberately inflicting suffering on another sentient being. There are some despicably cruel and worthless pieces of humanity.