Grand National 2019 is on Saturday! 🏇

[Marjo]

Hi everyone! 

The Grand National, "the world's greatest steeplechase", is approaching fast and runs this weekend in Aintree on Saturday 6th April.

I wasn't very familiar with this myself, so did some reading online. There's a whole festival built around it! Have any of you ever attended this?

The entertainment starts on Thursday (today) with some music (The Mersey Beatles are performing!) and of course, horse racing. Friday is Ladies Day with of course horse racing, but also all the stylish hats and fashion being spotlighted, celebrating individuality and creativity. And then Saturday is the Grand National day with the main race, which I read takes about 8 minutes, with 40 runners and riders taking part in Jumps racing.

ITV have the broadcasting rights for this one until 2020, so you can follow the race from home on TV, or via their live stream on the ITV website or the ITV player app.

Do any of you follow horse racing and interested in checking out this one on Saturday? 🐴🐴🐴

[jonsie]

I used to have a flutter on this every year but came to realise how cruel this is on the horses  

Trainers and punters will tell you that horses love to jump...

Not when they are being whipped and made to land in ditches. Sorry, I long ago stopped watching this spectacle and take no interest in it at all  

[Marjo]

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@jonsie wrote:

I used to have a flutter on this every year but came to realise how cruel this is on the horses  

Trainers and punters will tell you that horses love to jump...

Not when they are being whipped and made to land in ditches. Sorry, I long ago stopped watching this spectacle and take no interest in it at all  

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Oh how sad for the horses if that's the case @jonsie    I wasn't aware of the controversy around this but will go have a further read!!

[Mi-Amigo]

Sorry @Marjo  but I totally agree with @jonsie this is a cruel spectical and, in my opinion, betting on it and even watching it contributes to keeping it going, and would go so far as to say it should be banned.

[Glory1]

I agree with @jonsie and @Mi-Amigo it's a cruel race and I stopped watching it long ago, as I couldn't bear to see the way the horses were treated.

As @Mi-Amigo pointed out watching it and betting on it just perpetuates this awful race year on year.

[Cleoriff]

This is such a major race in this country but it's cruel. Not only do the horse get whipped, but a few years ago they reduced the height at Bechers Brook from 5ft to 4ft 10in, due the the falls.

The animal welfare charity League Against Cruel Sports counts the number of horse deaths at 40 over the three-day meet from the year 2000 to 2013.#

Once a horse breaks it's leg, as a racehorse, it's life is over... so it is shot on course. The only concession is they surround the poor animal with a white screen before they shoot it.

If I could ban this race I would do so without  second thought.

[TallTrees]

I agree 100% with @jonsie 

Flat races for horses ~ well ok ~ I suppose ~ not for me.

Jumps should be absolished 

Edited to include @Cleoriff  @Glory1 @Mi-Amigo 

Unacceptable race, cruel and sickening.

[Marjo]

Wow! Consider me educated! That all sounds so horrible now, poor horses.  I'll have a further read about the League @Cleoriff . It was established already in 1924 and has been working to ban several types of animal hunting. 

[Glory1]

I definitely agree with all animal hunting being banned. It's a cruel sport, if one can call it sport. 

I've never understood the pleasure one can get from killing defenceless animals big or small. 

[blissgirl]

Totally agree with @jonsie shuld be banned in my book