I agree completely about synchronised. Should have been withdrawn and I remember saying to someone, quite coldly, that my odds of winning just shot up because I knew the horse wouldn't complete.

I am always saddened when the horses are put down, especially when I have put money on them, but this isn't bear baiting or bull fighting. Death is a by product of sport and not the aim. It is very sad but there is great demand, great value and compassion in the sport. As has been said, the horses are treated so well and are born to race.

Finally, I think the According to Pete had a very good chance of placing today and it is even more saddenning that he was put down.

Is blecher's brook the biggest taker of equine life, at the national?

i won 5 win on the winner £170 for me

2 quid ew on the winner at 40/1

Do the fences need to be so brutal though ? I am sure the same distance could be run over normal fences or even hurdles & as has been said the start was a fiasco & Synchronise should not have run. The race is so big in peoples minds that it could stand dumbing down & still make a fortune for the establishment .

Not being y, but when people say the horses are treated brilliantly, can I just ask what this means in reality? Are we talking champagne and oysters, 5-star spa treatment? Or a better quality of carrot?

In general, horses are a lot better treated than a lot of children, especially considering that most are/ potentially are, worth more than the average house.

Madraco was saved after braking his leg, but as has been said, it is more humane to destroy them. Something to do with the heart not being able to cope.

Well, since you mention it! I did pick the winner, claimed £86, and you're still having none of it!

I suppose the only way you can compare it too, is a person with a money no object attitude.

There life is filled with what they love to do day in day out and that will be the stable jockey taking them out everyday,
they eat the best food available to them, they receive the best supplements available to them, they are treated by the best vets available in the area if needed. There stables are non comparable to a routine farmers stable. They receive around the clock attention and care.

Imagine that for a life!

I could well imagine that they look forward to waking the next day, so in other words " a better quality of carrot "

Your kid never, think his fell...surprisingly

The do-gooders have actually made the race more dangerous with their meddling in recent years.....Making the fences easier as simply meant the horses go quicker, which inevitably leads to more falls and, with it, more deaths.

The toughness of the fences are not the problem, its actually the number of runners which causes the biggest hazard....Most horses are brought down, or knocked out of their rhythm, by another horse - If you lowered the field from 40 to 30, or ideally 25, you would see less heavy falls and less fatalities.

All of those 40 horses, if running individually, would all complete the course, as the jumping isn't the problem, its the speed of the race and the sheer natural instinct of racehorses to run tightly in a pack which cause the problems.....Heavily watering the course and cutting the size of the field is the safest option.

Yes ,i suppose the size of the field reflects the prestige of winning the race & the greed of the racing fraternity to get a piece of the action. Incidentally, is there a big fatality problem in normal over the sticks racing with smaller fields.