Horse Racing: Debate after fatalities at Aintree
The John Smith’s Grand National event that took place at the Aintree racecourse starting on April 7, 2011 through to April 9, 2011, was the second most prestigious event after the Cheltenham Festival that took place last month.
It was flaunted and awaited as much as the festival. Nonetheless, the death of two champion racehorses after the meeting caused sports critics and all those involved in the horse business to question the event.
This issue has been very hot in the media for the last day or so and has stimulated the trainers and connections of many other colts to argue over the reason behind the sudden death of Dooneys Gate and Ornais in the Saturday meeting at the Aintree racecourse.
The trainers that are most enthusiastic for this debate are the Jump trainers, Kim Bailey, and Lucinda Russell. They are of the view that the racehorses were distressed due to the pace that was set during the race in the National meeting.
Moreover, the situation was aggravated because of the hot weather in the area. The fans of the aforementioned dead racehorses were seen to be very disappointed after the mega event.
Bailey is the winner of the 1990 edition of the Grand National event with his champion racehorse Mr. Frisk. When he was approached by the correspondents regarding his views on the pace of the race in the National event, he was reported as saying, “The race
was run in the second fastest time in history”.
He further went on to say, “Speed always causes more horses to fall as they are racing one stride faster than normal and those fences are big”.
Talking about the training of the horses regarding the big jumps over the fences, Kim Bailey said that no matter how much the horses are made to jump over fences, their falls cannot be prevented and that it was very unfortunate that the two racehorses fell
and died.
He also said that the connections of the colt dearly loved him and are sad that he is no more. Bailey also said that exhaustion can also be attributed to the weather.
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