The National

G-MAN2004 · 9 Apr 2011 at 17:14

Despite making a nice profit on Ballabriggs, seeing the dead horses kind of killed the mood for me.

BBC commentators referring to them as "obstacles" also annoyed me.

Tombstone · 9 Apr 2011 at 17:16

deSade said:
Not really the point though is it?

We keep running meets like this where it is almost inevitable where horses will die, and yet we only ever give piecemeal thoughts to this! I really do think this needs to be stopped, or dramatically changed - but that will never happen because people like the buzz, and don't care about the lives of the horses.

Edit : removed to prevent upset.

deSade · 9 Apr 2011 at 17:20

Tombstone said:
I didn't say it was the point, you asked a question of why I put a bet on today and I answered it, that's all. I made no further claim about the rights and wrongs and morality of it , I simply answered the question you asked.

I thought my question had an implied meaning - obviously not!

Like I said though, enjoy your £140.

sigma · 9 Apr 2011 at 17:22

Won some £ too but that is not a pleasant thing to hear about the horses dying.

What happened? Heat? Exhaustion? Death from falling?

Tombstone · 9 Apr 2011 at 17:24

deSade said:
I thought my question had an implied meaning - obviously not!

Like I said though, enjoy your £140.

I generally find that due to the nature of forums its better to say things outright than imply. However, I will thank you, all helps to pays the important bills. Hope you have a good evening too, goodbye.

deSade · 9 Apr 2011 at 18:18

Tombstone said:
Edit : removed to prevent upset.

Don't worry, it's not you that upsets me - it's the event itself (and to a lesser extent some other steeplchase meetings). As a nation we're culpable of keeping this 'spectacle' alive, putting money way ahead of any real care for the welfare of the animals involved.

Here's a short, but well balanced article about the subject:

http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/news/grand_national_risk.html

JUMPURS · 9 Apr 2011 at 22:09

I ended up a whole 15 quid better off cos i had Ballabrigs.

Donated it to the SSPCA when the confirmation about the 2 dead horses came in

digipeep · 10 Apr 2011 at 00:44

This is a picture of one of the horses Dooney's Gate just as the horse jumped Bechers Brook.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/04/09/article-1375210-0B8DF57900000578-709_970x815.jpg

The horse landed on it's back and broke it. Probably was the horse with the covers over.

Horrific.

ZeroSight · 10 Apr 2011 at 08:42

Myself, the missis and our son all picked a horse for a laugh as we know nothing about horse racing. My son randomly chose Ballabrigs, my missis chose Oscar time as it's the name of our son and I chose Don't push it as I had heard of A P McCoy. Needless to say we bagged 1st, 2nd and 3rd. The bad news is we did just 1 quid each way :-(