Here we are again in the aftermath of the so-called "Greatest Event in the Racing Calendar" ... The Grand National.

I don't care how romantic films like National Velvet make this steeplechase look. When you cut down to the hard and fast, what you have is this:

Two circuits of the course, amounting to nearly four and a half miles on a crowded, dangerous field. Each circuit has sixteen wildly dangerous, unforgiving jumps. The thoroughbreds are pushed to their limit, and pushed some more. Sensible jockeys pull up, others let their horses plough on regardless, breaking legs and backs, or suffering heart failure right in the middle of the field. Loose horses run amuck after they've ditched their riders, careering into the other runners. Out of an average of forty starters, perhaps a third finish.

"In one hundred and sixty two runnings of the race there have been fifty-eight equine fatalities, four of those in one year, 1954, while one jockey has also lost his life as a result of injuries sustained in the race."

It is not nice. It's not bravura. It is not sportsmanlike. It is entirely unfair on the horses to be asked to endanger themselves and their riders for our entertainment.

Yesterday's race was no exception.
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This year, Hear The Echo collapsed and died at the track. Other horses had to be given oxygen after the race and were in a poor condition for quite a while.

This is not how we should be treating horses. It disgusts me. They are friends, not playthings to be frittered away for prize-money and glory. They should not be made expendable.

Rant over.