Synchronised and According To Pete suffer at the hands of the 2012 Grand National
Already well bred horses are an essential for the horse racing industry and their loss just because of commercialising the sport and making it a money minting machine is nowhere near justification.
Such a life threatening activity is equivalent to a war or battle about which neither there is a guarantee for the life of the jockey nor his mount.
The Grand National has been famous for regular fatalities each year and that also with the specific credit to the Becher’s Brook that has been the culprit for the irreparable losses year after year.
The tormenting deaths of Synchronised and According To Pete in the 2012 meeting of the Grand National has once again arouse doubts and questions about the safety measures that the British Horse Racing Authority promised last year. There are those who enjoy the thrill and unique features of the race and then there are those who consider it brutality in the name of sport.
The number of horses and the number of meters of the race have been identified as the elementary reasons for the loss of precious lives at the race by many.
A field of forty climbing through the same fence at the same time is an impossibility and there is hardly ever a fence which does not already have horses fallen or stumbling with a fresh lot jumping over and not finding sufficient room for jumping and then ending safely.
‘It’s clearly not safe enough,’the Chief Executive of RSPCA continued: ‘We recognise racing is part and parcel of the fabric of our country but we’ve all got a responsibility as human beings – after all the horses haven’t got a choice, they can’t make the decisions – to make racing as safe as it can be.
“As far as the Grand National is concerned there are lots of factors, Firstly, the scale of the field. Forty horses is a heck of a lot.
‘Secondly, there are unique jumps there that horses aren’t experienced in going over and I think we need to look at those jumps again.’
However, as far as the tragedy with Synchronised goes, there are those who are sure that the blunder could have been easily avoided. The attitude of the nine-year-old and the Cheltenham Champion was already suspicious when he knocked off his rider McCoy even before the race and the biggest hint ever surfaced was when Synchronised did not seem to be the least bit excited when the first fence came into view.
There are experts who claim that the horse was not up for such a grueling challenge, and was forced into it.
Not to forget that after enduring the first fall, Synchronised was lost on the track with no jockey to guide and ended up breaking his hind leg eventually.
Miss Balding, the commentator for the race was reported saying: ‘I don’t think he fancies it much, you know.”
Malcolm Jefferson, According To Pete’s trainer did admit that the loss was truly brutal and that the horse was one of his favourites but the accident has not changed his mind about not testing his stable horses for the race next year. According to him it is a spectacle that cannot be missed.
The trainers and connections are only into glossing their profiles with participation in the much esteemed and prestigious Grand National rather than thinking of the welfare of the horses who are almost forced through the race.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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