Balancing act needed to quell National concerns

By Alan Conway

While the Aintree executive should be rightly applauded for the measures they have taken in improving the Grand National they must be careful to find the right balance between safety and taking what is so special about the Grand National away.

Last year’s race won by Ballabriggs made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The sight of two stricken horses lying prone on the Aintree turf were beamed all around the world. Even after the race the sight of the dehydrated winner having buckets of water being poured over him gave off a negative image of the race.

Yes the 2011 Grand National was not the race’s finest hour. But by reducing the risks and making the race more politically correct is a backwards step in my view.

David Muir, an equine consultant for the RSPCA had this to say on the matter “Raising the landing zone at Becher’s Brook is undoubtedly a positive step forward. However the RSPCA remains concerned about drop fences. We will continue to monitor the situation and see how horses cope on landing over the fence.”

Becher’s Brook has been made famous for the challenge it presents to the horses and jockeys. It’s part of the attraction of the race. Change it too much and that attraction is lost.

A lot of the outcry for change has come from outside racing not inside. Gold Cup winning trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies has said that the race is in danger of becoming a “glorified hurdle” while Brendan Powell, who won the race on Rhyme N’ Reason warned “if they keep trimming and trimming we will have brush hurdles around here in 15 years time.”

The proposal of having a designated cooling off area for the horses after the race is something that should be applauded. That is a logical move by Aintree racecourse and something that was needed but I don’t feel that the modifications they are making to the course are right.

A clear fact remains that unless you run the Grand National in December you will more than likely have the National being run on firm ground. That firm ground allows the horses to bounce off the ground and thus go at a faster pace.

That fast pace is the biggest danger in the race. The National fences have been designed in a way that horses can brush through the top of them but if a horse falls the wrong way on

firm ground and at that speed nothing can prevent the inevitable.

Aintree racecourse have a duty of care to protect all the horses that compete in the Grand National. They also have a duty to the race and to protect what is unique about the race.

Striking that fine balance will determine what kind of Grand National we will watch in years to come. It promises to be a challenging time for all concerned.

By Alan Conway