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That National was the end . Well over 12 horses in contention 3 out .
GOODBYE
GOODBYE
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Not one faller in the National or in the Topham.
Might as well just make it a 4m6f national hunt flat race. Why they still insist on calling it Bechers Brook I don't know - should be banned under the trade descriptions act. It bears no resemblance to the fence when it got it's name. Nobody wants to see horses get hurt but there is no jeopardy anymore. Races on the Mildmay course, even over hurdles, are much more interesting. Though no doubt they will start to make those fences much easier as well like Cheltenham have done in recent years. In the good old days there was the hope the horse that was going much better than yours might blunder or fall or get brought down etc (Clan Royal anyone?). Now you can call the winner after 3 fences. |
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no one in uk had heard of or used the word WOKE when the changes to the GN had began ,they say neotine collenge was last winner of an auld national and they were tampering with beecher,chair,start etc 10 yrs before that
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wont stop 1 person watching ot betting so its hirellephant..
but eye conquer. |
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1st time poster 14 Apr 24 09:34
no one in uk had heard of or used the word WOKE "Woke" is just a silly americanism adopted by a certain section of our people. |
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Agreed with Zealot and Unclep. The unique test of a horse and rider's ability over an extreme distance and unique fences was the 'Grand National'. This has now been eroded and chipped away over the years to leave us with the remarkable statistic of no fallers in the topham or the GN. Becher's Brook looks like a brush hurdle at southwell. I have a picture from the eve of West Tip's national when I walked the course with other racegoers, hosted by Richard Dunwoody. The depth and drop of the ditches has all been replaced. when you hear them debate it on the tv you want to say just take all the fences away and as Unclep says run it as an extended flat race - wokingham for stayers. As the jockey club contrive to destroy the great race (limits of 34) and now dominated by two trainers with almost half the field (15) it has lost interest for me. As an annual member at Cheltenham their greed and is destroying the experience for those in my generation who grew up with Red Rum, Night Nurse and Sea Pigeon. The absurd 'woke' affordability checks will accentuate the demise of this sport as we know it. in the words of Edmund Burke on his reflections of the French revolution 'for evil to triumph...it takes good men to do nothing'
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RIP
GN.. |
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sparrow • April 14, 2024 9:53 AM BST
"Woke" is just a silly americanism adopted by a certain section of our people. I agree with sparrow |
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The Grand National used to be the supreme jumping test. Yes, a few previous bad jumpers have somehow got inspired on the day, but for the most part it has rewarded very good jumpers. Now it's something totally different. Only the make and width of the fences sets it apart. It's been modified to such an extent that even relatively ordinary jumpers can negotiate the fences. Yesterday's winner has never been anything other an ordinary jumper. It's a case of just getting over the fences and a relative burn up over the last couple of fences. That is today's story. The spectacle of the old has been lost forever.
Nobody wants to see horses lose their lives, but if the sport is worried to this extent, then I think you may as well just shut the whole thing down. You can can keep chipping away, but you will never totally eliminate risk. Like it or not, excitement comes from that risk. |
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Never though I'd see NH punters lamenting the sight of fewer fallers.
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Its finished, itv were gushing about no fallers, the GN use to be all about the supreme test of jumping, nobody wants to see horses and jockeys hurt.
But the excitement has gone. |
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cant understand why just like in x counytry chase someone doesnt have a go at blowing the race apart ,instead of just waiting for the classier horses to take over after 2nd last, you now dont have to jump,stay or avoid any carnage
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cant understand why just like in x counytry chase someone doesnt have a go at blowing the race apart ,instead of just waiting for the classier horses to take over after 2nd last, you now dont have to jump,stay or avoid any carnage
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It'll still be a once a year Grand National bet for everyone except the diehards , 99% wouldn't notice or care if it became a hurdle it'll still be the Grand National.
Of course the comments are correct when comparing to the Red Rum days and even more recent than that but for diehards does it really matter what they do as long as it helps the sport survive that bit longer , the race helps attract new bettors in its own little way which the sport needs to survive , criticism of the media is unfair because they're trying to attract a new wave to help the sport survive and rightly not out to please use old diehards who will be here until closing time anyway. Is it too much ask for us so called purists to embrace the race for 10 minutes of the season and maybe just pretend it's the Whitbread with a decent quality field when looking for a bet. The race should be allowed to continue to contribute to the sport in my view with our blessing  |
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it's been shi t for years
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thought thats exactly what we do and have a weekend MOAN IN on here about it,where only racing diehards can read it and come monday jog on
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Most of the horses that have cleared the field were very good jumpers, but that advantage has been taken away. To do that now you would just have to use up loads of petrol.
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Time to ditch the race full stop. Its become a laughing stock. A waste of prize money that's needed elsewhere. 28 irish and 4 British trained runners is another reason to get rid. Greatest race in the world has become an Irish benefit in a different country. All you need these days is be a top stayer ahead of the handicapper. A thoroughly sad demise.
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Everybody else invades England or takes us for a ride, the Irish might as well dip their bread as well.
Everything's up for grabs on Treasure Island We must have the worse politicians and organisers in the world. |
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It was an exciting race for me because everyone I was watching with still had at least one of there bets in with a chance of at least a place a couple of furlongs out.
It would be more of a test though these days if it was run over the normal fences. A horse can jump through the top half of these fences and the worst that will happen is an unseat. It will only be another few years before we get a freak accident and more changes are made to appease the once a year activists. |
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The race is not what is was we all agree on that and changes had to be made to satisfy the ever growing metroplolitan populations, but a great many of them will never be satisfied until NH racing is gone forever.
My opinion now is why have the race at all, is it worth all the negative pre race debates and misinformation that happens every year on all the news channels and morning discussion shows, to me its a once a year gift to the anti mob no matter how safe the race is. |
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Lots of people complaining, but not many solutions being offered.
Cannot turn back the clocks and make the fences bigger, wider, stiffer. And most people couldn't give a fig about the quality of the race... once there is enough runners to make a sweepstake, and there are a couple principal runners with a "back story", they will go to the races, have a few drinks, nice meal out, couple of bets and have a good day out. |
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2025 grand national is at Cartmel.
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I AM Maximum supplemented for the 1000 Guineas
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Willie Mullins wants to sent him / her / it / ze / zem to Justify for a mating.
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Lots of people complaining, but not many solutions being offered.
The solution is either make a decision that this is the race and we aren't going to change it every year based whether there is negative media coverage or a bunch of purple haired vegans trying to glue themselves to the fences or just get rid of it. |
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Well said Hayden.
The race has changed and I do not see anything wrong with that. Cracking race yesterday and hopefully it will attract more people to the game. |
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Anyone any idea what takes over as the world's greatest sporting spectacle? It used to be 1. The 5 Nations 2. The Grand National 3. The rest. But now since professionalism in rugby (along its incessant boring rucking, uncontested scrums and lineouts) and the total collapse of the GN I don't know what is left. The BHA needs to get itself together and stand up to the "Don't even slightly hurt a horse" brigade.
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The question they should asked was how did we have 6 years no deaths then 5 runnings 5 deaths. Spraed that out as 5 deaths over 11 years then it does not seem so bad. Obviously none of us want to see any deaths.
Any backslapping about how safe it has been made could have been different if Coracvh Rambler's 2nd fence fall had been fatal. In short we got away with it yesterday and there will be more deaths as you cannot avoid it. |
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What ever happened to 'snowflakes' and 'virtue signalling'. Some ridiculous statements from the wokeflakes.
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cacique,
You have said that people are not offering suggestions, but you then answer that question in the next sentence. People have consistently stated that to them it's nothing like it used to be. You have said that the clocks cannot be turned back so what options are there to make? These people are not going suggest making the fences even smaller. |
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@DD
I want the fences to be bigger, wider stiffer, with a bigger drop on the landing side at beechers. But this is not a possibility so we are stuck with it. We should be looking at making suggestions to improve the spectacle, make it a special race again. I don't have an imagination, or a PR brain, but i'm sure other people on this forum do. |
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Why was yesterday's rave not a good spectacle?
Lots of horses in with a chance coming to the last fence. What was not to like? |
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Race
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My raving days are long gone
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I don't know how you define a good spectacle, but mine isn't seeing a load of average jumpers just negotiating fences and effectively having a burn-up over the last two. As I said elsewhere the greatest National ever was a two-horse duel between Crisp and Red Rum. If all 32 runners had been in contention it would been light years away from that spectacle.
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Lets get the Race back to how it used to be eh lads.
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could Rico get any dumber..from his latest comment it seems the answer is yes
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Be interesting to see what the general public think that maybe only bet once a year, as mentioned there seemed to be lots of horses in contention at the finish which might make it more entertaining as more people thought they still had a chance.
It's defo changed so much over the last few years. There was a time maybe even 10 years ago people wouldn't risk the best horses as negotiating the course safely was that risky. To be fair with all the press with that regard there's not much that can be done as they are in between a rock and a hard place. |
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The woke agenda is to stop horse racing completely and the sort of carnage we saw 20 years ago would get it banned in a month. By making it safer, it has a small chance of surviving another 10 years. How many of those who want to see fallers at nearly every fence and a couple of dead horses feel that Formula 1 is no fun to watch as no drivers have been killed recently? I find it boring but not because of the lack of dead drivers but because the result is usually known before they start the race. Why don't we have horses starting one at a time in the order of their SP and make sure the favourite wins?
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