The Grand National

Now the Grand National is a very controversial topic, and this year with only 15 of the 40 horses finishing and 2 having to be euthanised, Synchronised and According to Pete, the question of horse welfare is apparent. Why in the 21st Century are we essentially needlessly killing horses for entertainment purposes.  Many people argue strongly to ban or not to ban this event some of which I will cover in this post:

Why it shouldn't be banned:

This year the prize money was a staggering £975,000 due to its massive financial side the steeplechase industry employs a large number of people and as the Grand National is the biggest event on their calendar  banning it would have a huge impact on the industry.  It is also the bookmakers biggest day of the year with £300 million spent each year betting on this event there are massive profits to the bookmakers dependent on the result of this 10 minute race.  The Grand National is also one of the most prestigious races in Europe with its iconic fences such as 'The Chair' and 'Becher's Brook' drawing 11 million TV views in 2012.  It has been going since 1839 and only ever being missed in 1941-45 due to WW2 and 1933 due to a false start and people carrying on. The event has a lot of history making it the event it is today.  

Why it should be banned:

The Grand National has 3 times the fatality rate of a normal steeplechase and is in the high risk category for horse fallers due to its 3 most unique features (the size of the field, length of the course and the number of jumps) and there has been 22 deaths in the last 20 years alone on the supposedly "safer" course.  It seems that the Grand National is not a race but instead a game of luck to see who can be left without falling at the end.  

Is this race pushing horses beyond their capabilities? On average a horse that would race in the National would have lungs that at rest contracted and expands between 8-16 times a minute but in the race this could reach 150 times a minute taking in around 21,000l of oxygen and to get this oxygen to the muscles the heart would have to beat 240 times a minute whereas the resting heart rate is 25-30bpm.  As well as the strain on the heart and muscles the horse has to jump 30 solid fences which the smallest of which is 4ft 6inches tall. The problem with this is that the lightweight-speed-racehorse was not intended to be jumped over solid fences and is therefore more prone to injuries such as fractures which are fatal in horses.

What I think?  I think that due to horse welfare I think reducing the number of horses in the field from 40 to 30 would dramatically reduce the number of fallers and reducing number of fallers decreases fatalities, I think this is the only way as I feel the Grand National would be impossible to ban due to its history and the financial aspect of it.  I also think that decreasing fence height would not make a difference as this would in turn force horses into running this course faster and the faster it becomes the more fatalities there will be.  However I fear that it will take too many more horses or even a jockey to die for such a dramatic change to occur.