Opinion still divided over where to draw line on National safety

TWELVE months ago, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Synchronised crumpled on landing at Becher’s Brook to begin a tragic sequence of events that continue to cast a haunting shadow over the future of the John Smith’s Grand National.

As jockey AP McCoy was unseated, he was initially relieved to see his white-faced horse gallop off riderless as the closely-packed field raced towards The Canal Turn, another signature fence on the Aintree course.

Five fences later and Synchronised, who had ingloriously unshipped his rider on the way to the start, had suffered a fatal injury after he decelerated into the 11th – an open ditch – and dragged his hind end through the fence.

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He could not be saved and this tragedy is one reason why the wooden stakes that formed the inner core under the spruce fences have been replaced with a plastic birch that is less forgiving, though some contend that it will encourage sloppy jumping rather than horses respecting the unique obstacles.

When the news came through over the radio as McCoy headed back to the weighing room in one of the course vehicles, the tears were to quickly follow his initial disbelief.

A circuit later and According To Pete – owned by North Yorkshire couple Pete and Anne Nelson – was travelling soundly under Harry Haynes when he cleared Becher’s and was brought down by On His Own. As the Malcolm Jefferson-trained horse got to his feet, he collided with Weird Al and suffered a fateful injury.

Though they have two new young horses in training with Jefferson, the Nelson family will not be part of the 600 million viewers worldwide who will watch the race.

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“We are pleased they are putting plastic in the fences, but it has knocked us for six,” said Anne Nelson, of Helperby.

“We shall not even look on Saturday – we will go out for the day – but we do hope that nothing happens to any horse.”

After four equine deaths in the last two Nationals, Aintree desperately needs an incident-free race to restore the race’s reputation – even though there was a freakish element to the tragedies of 12 months ago.

Yet, while the whole of the racing could not be more sensitive to the importance of horse welfare with Katie Walsh, third last year on Seabass, saying that horses receive better care than some children, the National continues to divide opinion.

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Sir Peter O’Sullevan, who called home every winner from Middleham’s Merryman II in 1960 to Lord Gyllene in the 1997 ‘bomb scare’ race, would like to see the 40-runner field cut.

“As it is the shop window of racing, it is so important to get it right,” said the 95-year-old ‘voice of racing’ who is recovering from a minor stroke.

“I think 30 should be the maximum, but I would not be sorry to see it down to 20. It wouldn’t, in any sense, diminish it as a spectacle and it would attract an even higher class horse.”

After the start, which has been chaotic in recent years, the controversy continues on the run across the Melling Road to the first of 30 fences.

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Even though jockeys have been told to cut their speed, a move that North Yorkshire trainer Ferdy Murphy says should have been announced in the privacy of the weighing room, many have expressed scepticism at whether such an edict can be enforced.

Though they’re acutely aware of their responsibilities to the sport, last year’s winning rider, Daryl Jacob, says every jockey will “be told to be handy and that brings speed into it” – himself included – as he gets the leg up on the Paul Nicholls-trained Join Together, a leading contender.

It is a view shared by former Gold Cup-winning jockey Andrew Thornton, who is a safety officer with the Professional Jockeys Association. Even though the lengthy pre-race preliminaries will be shortened, and the start moved 90 yards away from the stands, he has his doubts as he prepares to ride Tatanen in the big race.

“They say, ‘Slow down’, from the start but when you get 40 horses together, it’s not quite that easy. Personally, I don’t think there has been much of a problem at the start,” he said.

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As the field heads to Becher’s Brook, fence six on the first circuit, the runners and riders will notice that the landing side drops – so long an Aintree feature – have been virtually eradicated to lessen the risk of horses losing their balance.

Former showjumper Harvey Smith, who rode round the course in the 1970s and who saddles two runners on Saturday, welcomes this. “The changes to the fences are good,” he said.

“The mould of the fences is for the better rather than the wooden stakes.”

He is also of the view that softer ground slows down horses – and reduces the risk of falls. Yet, while the RSPCA would like the now modest drop at the iconic Becher’s Brook eliminated altogether, Thornton is among those who disagrees. “The race wouldn’t be the same without Becher’s and some people would like it to be a flat race, but that’s never going to happen,” he said.

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“There are a lot more tricky fences around the country than Becher’s. It was unfortunate what happened last year. A horse fell and brought something else down. That can happen at any fence anywhere, whether it be Cheltenham or Plumpton. Where you’ve got National Hunt racing, you’ve got danger – that’s fact.”

It is a view shared by Richard Pitman, who is still remembered for his ride 40 years ago on the trailblazing Australian chaser Crisp – beaten on the line by the fast-finishing Red Rum, who would become the greatest National horse in history.

Crisp, said Pitman, who is to be inducted into the Aintree hall of fame, cleared Becher’s with such effortless ease that he cleared both the fence and the drop.

“We will be all holding our breath, as we did last year,” said Pitman. “It is a dangerous sport, but you can’t say to jockeys to go at 25mph rather than 32mph. If there are two deaths at Market Rasen on Sunday, there will be be no fuss – it is only because it is the National. My biggest bugbear is the RSPCA because some are using the National for their own ends. If you take away the character of the course, it would be just another long distance race.”

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Perhaps the most poignant comment came from Smith’s wife Sue as stable stalwarts Auroras Encore and Mr Moonshine bid to become the first Yorkshire-trained winner since the success of Merryman II.

She has had horses who have completed the course – while others have fallen early. The stable has also suffered the heartbreak of travelling back to Bingley with an empty horsebox, the saddest feeling in racing, after The Last Fling paid the ultimate price.

“Just as long as they come back safe and sound, both men and horse,” she said. And, on that final point, racing is united.

Course changes are ‘horse friendly’

Aintree clerk of the course Andrew Tulloch believes the latest modifications make the course “more horse friendly”.

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As well as the landing side dropped being reduced at Becher’s Brook and three other fences, the wooden inner core of the world famous fences has been replaced with ‘plastic birch’.

Tulloch says the changes were being considered before the last two renewals of the National were overshadowed by tragedy.

“If a horse does make a mistake, the fences are more horse friendly,” he told the Yorkshire Post. “They’re definitely not getting any lower. The whole thing is about jockeys and horses still respecting the obstacles.”