Great Step In Right Direction For Grand National
11 years ago
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Posted
9th April, 2013 17h08
The charity World Horse Welfare, which is an independent welfare advisor to the British Horseracing Authority, has welcomed the results of today’s Grand National, but says there is still a need to reduce the number of runners.
World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers said:
“This race was exciting and will be remembered for all the right reasons. We’re very pleased that all the horses and riders returned safely.
“World Horse Welfare’s number one concern with the Grand National was the numbers of fallers, so today is an excellent result. We are very pleased that only two horses fell, and while some unseated their riders, none were brought down by other horses. This had been a problem for almost 50% of the field over the past few years. In this race it amounted to 20% of the field, which is a great step forward.
“Aintree can take considerable credit for the improvements they have made to the course – especially the most significant changes to the fences in the race’s 160 year history. It is too early to say with certainty whether the softer fences are making a difference, but with fewer falls in the other races held on the National course over the past two days the initials signs are encouraging.
“We are also pleased that so many jockeys rode the early part of the race sensibly and later in the race when they made good decisions to pull their horses up rather than pursue the contest.
“We would still like a trial reduction of the maximum field size to around 30 to further lessen the risk. This race demonstrated we are moving in the right direction, but the risks to horse and rider were still twice that of other national hunt races.”
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