The Grand National = Marmite

You Love it or Hate it? I guess there is a case for that. Personally I love it, and I'm not talking from my pocket, I am a bookie by trade, yes, but I work for a global conglomerate in fact one of the biggest and most recognisable betting brands in the world. Thus said, my wages, bonus etc... are not affected in any way, shape or form by Grand National day itself. The reason I love it, is that for one day I can share my passion for horse racing with those who normally would not concern themselves with such. By 930am I had received 4 missed calls and numerous text messages, from people who i do not even converse with on a weekly basis, regarding tips for the national. I kept it simple I gave them all BecauseIcouldn'tsee and Sunnyhill Boy each way. So profit came their way. Now a lot has been said of the deaths. And granted the death rate has increased in recent years. But has the race become more dangerous? No. The simple fact is that the quality of he field has improved. You could see Saturday as they came round the last bend there were still 6/7 horses bang in there fighting for position. And eventually the closest finish for many, many years. I'm not going to discuss the virtues as to why Neptune Collonges won and Sunnyhill Boy was second, mainly because it was a fantastic race and brilliant spectacle as ever. But we lost Gold Cup winner Synchronised, and the much adored According to Pete. Should Synchronised have run? I'm not a vet, trainer, owner jockey, I don't know. Those guys know more than me, and there is no way he would have been allowed to if he wasn't right. Unprofessional moment, I don't actually have the facts in front of me, and there is so much fictional bial written that I can't be obliged to look it up, but I believe Synchronised dumped AP at around the 6th and then suffered the fatal fall at the 11th, whilst running loose. According to Pete was bought down and fatally injured on the second circuit. Both unprecedented accidents. I'm not saying it's ok to lose the life of a horse, but I'm also displacing fault/blame. The main reason the Grand National is so much more frantic of latter year is that the quality of the race has improved ten-fold, the days of sticking a pin in your daily rag pullout are long gone. These are all good horses who if avoiding trouble could well win the race, hence the battle to get to a position out of trouble. I think the only realistic answer is limiting the field to 30 perhaps. I don't think tampering with the fences is the answer, the horses already attack them at such a pace that problems are likely. Less congestion may well ease worries. The ban horseracing crowd need to get another hobby, these horses are treated better than the human beings that look after them and any worries about their welfare is misguided, misgiven and unwelcome. Again I've written a rambly blog to no real point but if you read it carefully there is one or two considerations inside. Have a nice day.
Guy