Huge changes to the Grand National are coming but at some point we have to stop and say ‘enough is enough’
HUGE changes are coming to the Grand National. The question is, where will it end?
From 2024, the field size will be slashed from 40 runners to 34 in the biggest modifications to the world’s most famous race in a decade.
The Jockey Club, who own Aintree racecourse, say the changes have the welfare of both horse and jockey at their heart.
Among the other alterations is the repositioning of the first fence 60 yards closer to the stands, while the field will begin from a standing start in an attempt to reduce their speed on the run to the first.
No doubt, racing is never under more scrutiny than when the National is being beamed into millions of households around the world each year.
And, worryingly, extreme groups like Animal Rising, whose members invaded the track at Aintree earlier this year and caused a 15 minute delay to the Grand National, are being given more and more air time by mainstream media outlets.
Attitudes towards our relationship with animals has changed significantly in recent years and there has been a rise in people clamouring for racing to be abolished altogether.
Of course, those of us with half a brain know that the sport is not cruel in the slightest and that horse welfare is the top priority for the industry, but we have to take the external threats to racing seriously if we want it to survive and thrive.
So against that backdrop, you can understand the Jockey Club's thought process behind trying to make further changes to the race in the name of increased safety.
Mind you, I do find their insistence the threat of groups like Animal Rising had no influence on their decision hard to believe.
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But at some point, surely, we have to say, 'enough is enough'.
Racing, in particular jumps racing, is a dangerous sport, and the risks will never be fully eliminated.
The more changes we make in the name of reducing risk, the more the game will become watered down and lose its appeal for lots of people.
Will the Grand National still feel like the Grand National with 34 runners instead of 40? Maybe, but this feels like a slippery slope.
The Jockey Club admitted they did not have any data to back up their deicions to reduce the field size by 15%.
They reckon too big a reduction could actually increase the speed of the race, but also say having 40 runners does not leave the horses with enough room in the early part of the race.
Who knows if 34 is the magic number, time will tell. We do know, however, if the 2021 running had a 34-runner field, Rachael Blackmore and Minella Times would never have had their day in the sun and the sport would have been robbed of one of it's great days.
The more we chip, chip, chip away at the race and the sport as a whole, it feels inevitable, one day, their won't be much of a sport left to chip away at.
I fear this is the beginning of the end of the Grand National - I can’t confidently say that the race will still exist in 10 or 20 years.
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So please, let’s have some pride in the race, and jumps racing as a whole, it’s a brilliant sport loved by so many.
But if the Grand National and the wider sport loses its soul, all will be lost.
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