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Grand National

Alistair20000

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Avoiding the Hundred
Thanks for the update Al - I jumped to the same conclusion but glad I was wrong!
My first reaction on seeing the screens was that it was a horse but it could not possibly have been Saint Are. Putting the screens round injured jockeys is a more recent thing that has been instituted.

It was good to read that at least 10 vets were attending to Saint Are at one point. I think the Authorities have got the care of horses and jockeys spot on but injuries and deaths in racing is part of the territory and cannot be completely eliminated.
 

Terryhall

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You go me on the alarm clock
My first reaction on seeing the screens was that it was a horse but it could not possibly have been Saint Are. Putting the screens round injured jockeys is a more recent thing that has been instituted.

It was good to read that at least 10 vets were attending to Saint Are at one point. I think the Authorities have got the care of horses and jockeys spot on but injuries and deaths in racing is part of the territory and cannot be completely eliminated.
Agree. The next big challenge imo is for the governing body to think about some form of "retirement package" so that the animals aren't simply discarded by the industry once their racing career is over (not all of them can realistically be put out to stud for example). Maybe requiring the stables to be associated with (and provide appropriate support to) some local animal shelter for example (albeit also not an ideal solution, but infinitely better than the knackers yard.)

I do like a flutter and I think it's hard to get balanced reportage on this stuff (in particular PETA can be pretty OTT in their published opinions) but I do think that the industry could do a bit more on this.
 

LOG

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Agree. The next big challenge imo is for the governing body to think about some form of "retirement package" so that the animals aren't simply discarded by the industry once their racing career is over (not all of them can realistically be put out to stud for example). Maybe requiring the stables to be associated with (and provide appropriate support to) some local animal shelter for example (albeit also not an ideal solution, but infinitely better than the knackers yard.)
Something like that is of course the right thing to do but I think something similar was done in greyhound racing and it had a huge impact on the sport because of the costs.
 

Terryhall

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You go me on the alarm clock
Something like that is of course the right thing to do but I think something similar was done in greyhound racing and it had a huge impact on the sport because of the costs.
Yep, can easily imagine that overheads are tight enough for most stables and enforcing something like this could be a massive issue for many. Hard to say where the balance would be on that.
 
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