Sad events cast dark shadow on this great spectacle

IF horse racing was so dangerous that the inherent risks could not be justified, Daryl Jacob and John Hales would not have landed an emotional John Smith’s Grand National on the heroic Neptune Collonges.

Both men know, from bitter personal experience, that heartbreak is never more than a moment away as the controversial race faces its sternest ever credibility test after two more horse deaths.

As the photo-finish result was finally announced following the closest ever finish in the contest’s 173-year history, an emotional Jacob pointed to the sky in tribute to his best friend and one-time housemate Kieran Kelly, a jockey who suffered a fatal fall in their native Ireland in 2003.

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“Kieran pretty well kicked me out of the house and told me to cover over here, so I owe him a lot,” said the tearful 28-year-old.

The same with Hales, the toy manufacturer whose colours were previously carried by the legendary One Man. Weeks after winning the 1998 Queen Mother Champion Chase so spectacularly, he was killed while racing over Aintree’s Mildmay course.

“Can I just say thank you Aintree – after what happened a few years ago, you owe me that one. I am so emotional, I can’t believe it,” he said.

And trainer Paul Nicholls has endured wretched luck in a race that confirmed his status as champion trainer for a seventh year. This was his 53rd runner in the National.

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Perhaps their personal experiences can now help inform the debate raging about the National’s future. They could have walked away after tragedy befell them, but remained driven by their love of the sport.

Tragically, victory – the now retired Neptune Collonges only hit the front on the winning line, denying the luckless Richie McLernon on Sunnyhill Boy – was overshadowed by equine fatalities for the second successive year.

First, Synchronised, the beautiful white-faced Cheltenham Gold Cup winner who was attempting to pull off a memorable double last completed by Golden Miller in 1993. After decanting the record-breaking jockey AP McCoy to the turf en route to the start, he was in mid-division when falling at the sixth fence – the infamous and much modified Becher’s Brook.

“He was just caught out by the drop,” said retired jockey Mick Fitzgerald, commentating on the BBC.

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It was heartbreaking for the trainer Jonjo O’Neill who was aboard the 1979 Gold Cup winner Alverton when his life ended at the same fence. However, while the drop at Becher’s is now minimal compared to three decades ago, the riderless Synchronised jumped a handful more fences before fracturing a leg.

After the fifth fence was omitted on the second circuit while State of Play’s jockey Noel Fehily, the race’s most serious human casualty, was treated for a broken leg – he was trodden on by a pursuing a horse that then came to grief with the impact and brought down another contender – the field approached Becher’s for a second time.

Just behind Neptune Collonges, the eventual winner, was According To Pete – the Yorkshire horse giving young jockey Harry Haynes the ride of his life.

As On His Own fell, he brought down the 11-year-old who had been foot perfect. He suffered an untreatable shoulder fracture.

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News of both deaths abruptly ended the winner’s press conference that should have been the defining moment in the racing career of Neptune Collonges.

One of the first people to congratulate Hales had been JP McManus, the owner of Synchronised and Sunnyhill Boy.

“The highs and lows of this sport are complete extremes,” said Hales who revealed that his family were ‘split’ on whether to run Neptune Collonges and that his daughter refused to attend Aintree and went showjumping instead.

There were striking parallels with Peter and Anne Nelson, According To Pete’s disconsolate owners who had actually bred the horse from a tiny paddock behind their garage in the North Yorkshire village of Helperby where they deliver their morning papers.

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Their daughter Sandra had become so overtaken by nerves as Pete’s career progressed that she spent the duration of every contest in a racecourse toilet until she received a call to say he was safe. When the call came on Saturday, it was the worst possible news.

Yet the family’s enthusiasm before the race had been infectious, a rags-to-riches story synonymous with National fairytales. Now there is an empty horse box – the worst sight in racing.

Both tragedies could have happened on any racecourse and racing can never be risk-free – just ask Hales and Jacob.

Yet, because the National is the most-watched and most famous race in the world, it brings with it a level of scrutiny that racing’s authorities must acknowledge.

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This includes looking at the make-up and suitability of the National course in its entirity rather than responding to individual falls each year.

Speed is another factor – despite watering the ground, the winning time was a fraction over nine minutes, five seconds inside standard.

There’s also an argument that lowering some fences has made the race more dangerous. And the field could be restricted to 30 runners, though this may not have saved According To Pete as the field was already much reduced when he came down.

However, these matters should have been addressed in last year’s safety review so racing could have paid due credit to the tactical brilliance of Jacob and Katie Walsh who was third on the heavily-backed Seabass, the best ever result by a female rider in the race.

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It would be wrong to overlook Felix de Giles on Brian Ellison’s Neptune Equester – badly hampered at the first, the Malton horse went on to finish 13th.

Instead racing remains haunted by the words of Peter Nelson as his stunningly beautiful horse was being saddled.

“I just hope he gets round, safe and sound.”

He did not. And neither did Synchronised, an iconic Gold Cup winner only a month earlier.

For, while those involved in the sport accept the risks, they’re difficult to justify to a public that now has a far greater appreciation of animal welfare – perhaps more so than the dangers which confront each and every rider.

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Aintree’s response, and its effectiveness, is now the Grand National’s most important test.

Where they all finished or fell

1st Neptune Collonges (33-1)

2nd Sunnyhillboy (16-1)

3rd Seabass(8-1 joint-favourite)

4th Cappa Bleu (16-1)

5th In Compliance

6th Ballabriggs

7th Hello Bud

8th Tharawaat

9th Shakalakaboomboom

10th Swing Bill

11th The Midnight Club

12th Planet Of Sound

13th Neptune Equester

14th Calgary Bay

15th Midnight Haze

Where they fell

Fence 1: Viking Blond (fell)

Fence 2: West End Rocker (fell), Junior (fell)

Fence 5: State Of Play (unseated), Rare Bob (brought down), Chicago Grey (brought down)

Fence 6: Synchronised (fell)

Fence 7: Alfa Beat (fell)

Fence 8: Black Apalachi (fell), Organisedconfusion (unseated), Becauseicouldntsee (unseated), Tatenen (unseated), Killyglen (unseated)

Fence 10: Treacle (fell), Arbor Supreme (unseated)

Fence 11: Giles Cross (pulled up)

Fence 15: Always Right (unseated)

Fence 17: Quiscover Fontaine (fell)

Fence 19: Deep Purple (pulled up), Vic Venturi (refused)

Fence 21: fence omitted

Fence 22: On His Own (fell), According To Pete (brought down), Mon Mome (pulled up), Postmaster (pulled up)

Fence 27: Weird Al (fell)