Focus on Aintree spectacular comes with examination of potential equine toll
That fact comes into the greatest spotlight of all through the National. Those opposed to racing’s use of animals for entertainment use it to push their agenda, as evidenced by uncovered plans by activists to disrupt the race in protest.
The National is a single day when jump racing has the eyes of the world on it and these realities come to the fore. There are over 300 other days when those same realities apply. It means the sport must be able to stand over what it’s about. The nature of the beast is that there’s an anthropomorphism in this that doesn’t apply to creatures who don’t hold a similarly emotional grip on the popular imagination. If it lapses into sentimentality, then those who spend their lives with horses are probably more guilty of it than anyone.
Over-production in the thoroughbred industry is a reasonable and necessary debate to be had; dewy-eyed nonsense about ‘saving’ these animals for a fantasy life in some pastoral idyll is an adolescent delusion. Spruce used to rest on stiff wooden frames that punished blunders and made the National a supreme jumping test. Now the fences are softer and reward a near hurdling technique that a modern star like Tiger Roll perfected. The trend is for horses to unseat rather than fall.
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