High profile races will draw more attention

I dont follow racing much but when I do I dont see horses die at every race I watch
But its not pretty much guaranteed that a horse/horses will die at the Grand National

I am more than happy to say that of course in all things there are risks and accidents happen - and even deaths


But for me for such a small field to have so many deaths in just this one race the risk is too great for the horses
How many jokeys would want in on the race if it was them not the horses dying?

Risk is OK, excitment fine, but to pretty much guarantee that one or more horses will die in that one race - it is too much

All jockeys know sitting on a horse is a risk, and some do die!

Indeed. My best friend lost a horse whilst riding on our local beach - something she did every week with her horse. The horse mis-stepped, hit a hole and broke it's leg so badly, the bottom portion was hanging on with a few strips of skin. Of course, we called the vet out, and the horse had to be shot whilst still on the beach.

We do still go on the beach, but now we have an 'outrider' - usually her step-son, who is on his bike and does a recce in front to check terrain.

There is always, always a risk. I do think they could change things more in the GN (make the field smaller etc), but anyone who takes a horse anywhere (including local shows, pony clubs etc) knows that getting on a horses back is a risk to both rider and horse.

Not read the thread since I last posted (because of the ridiculousness of it)... but wanted to reply to this...

There are FAR more horses that die during the Grand National (well, any race really), than jockeys that do. The risk to the horse is FAR greater, than that of the jockey.

I wonder when the last time 2 jockeys died during the one race was... I actually would be interested in knowing that. Also, would be interested in knowing any race where there are multiple jockey deaths practically every year... I am sure that if such a thing existed, it wouldn't continue and I doubt that many jockeys would want to enter a race with such a high risk of death... It seems acceptable for that to continue though, when it is the HORSES that are dying.

You make the fences smaller, you will have more injuries/fatalities!

Yes of course they do
But if it was as many as the horses that are dying in this one race I bet they would think twice

Its not that there is a risk of death - its the fact that the risk seems so much higher than for other things

I was not comparing one to the other, the question was asked

How many jokeys would want in on the race if it was them not the horses dying?

I answered, jockeys know the risk to their own safety,a and sometimes sadly they do die.

Sorry, I meant reduce the number of horses....

How do you know what people do, and do not do, away from Dogsey?

Also, when a thread is title 'The Grand National' then I think you should expect that the posts will be in regards to the GN. If a thread was opened about other horse 'sports' then I would give my opinions on those too.

My maths isn't my strongest point but I make that roughly the 1 in 20 already mentioned... Which is FAR too high odd for my liking.

Good post!

Yes, but the risk for them is a completely different thing to what it is for the horses.

If say, 1 in 1000 jockeys died (that is a completely made up number) then I am sure a lot of them wouldn't see it as anywhere near as big a risk as 1 in 20 dying... So, regardless of the fact that jockeys do die, the risk to them is very different to that of the horses.