Marathon runners have a choice, horses don’t

OH how I disagree with Maureen Hunt when she compares running the London Marathon with the Grand National.

Tragic as it was that Claire Squires died, people who run the Marathon are there from choice.

Horses who run the Grand National have no choice. It is time it was stopped!

From: Caroline Davis, Otley.

I FEEL I must respond to the letter by Maureen Hunt (Yorkshire Post, April 28) who compares the death of Claire Squires to the deaths of racehorses in the Grand National. These events, although both tragic, are poles apart. Humans enter events such as these by their own choice and with full knowledge of potential risks, racehorses do not have the luxury of that choice and the majority of horse racing is about making money. I am not for banning the Grand National although it is not my cup of tea but I do firmly believe in making it safer.

As for five-star luxury, this is the privilege of a few and some of the conditions racehorses are kept in are far from kind.

Following retirement from racing these highly strung horses (due to the nature of training and human induced unnatural lifestyle) are notoriously difficult to re-home and the thanks some get is the bullet.