RDU_64 Posted April 11, 2011 Report Posted April 11, 2011 I completely agree with reducing the hight of the fences and I also think there should be harsher penalties for "excessive use of the whip". Is this rule not already in place? http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/horse/ALL/598/ Quote
scotfree Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 For the life of me I cannot understand horse racing. It almost seems cruel to me (which is an argument strengthened by the death of two participants at the weekend) and a certainly will never have any sort of care factor for horse racing. This ^^^^^ Quote
Tyrant Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 Is this rule not already in place? http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/horse/ALL/598/ Err.. aye. I know it is but we need harsher penalties for jockeys found guilty of it. Instead of a few days that they sometimes get make it a few weeks or more. Quote
CtS Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 Fucking hell Tyrant, you're a right Nag. Quote
Tyrant Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 Fucking hell Tyrant, you're a right Nag. Well if the shoe fits I'll wear it. Quote
RDU_64 Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 The sight of two dead horses under tarpaulin covers was not so unfamiliar and when jockey Peter Toole was rushed to hospital with life-threatening head injuries it was another reminder that the collateral damage of a race like the Grand National can be both severe and unavoidable. However, the racing industry must grasp that if most inhabitants of the real world understand that you cannot have something so filled with courage and straining athleticism, both equine and human, without a considerable measure of risk, a decreasing number are inclined to shut their eyes to what was surely the most disquieting aspect of the victory of Ballabriggs. It was the systematic whipping of the naturally heroic 10-year-old winner. This is not a phrase conjured up by some impassioned animal rights protester. It is the verdict of the stewards who examined the performance of the triumphant jockey, Jason Maguire. They banned him for five days, a decision which, when set down amid the glory of his victory, was not so much ironic as a raging paradox. The stewards said Maguire's use of his whip was excessive, a ruling which leapt beyond its usual implications when you remembered that the jockey slid from his mount in the moment of triumph and that the training staff's efforts to fight severe dehydration and exhaustion began in an unprecedented frenzy. One conclusion was impossible to swerve. It was that Ballabriggs had been driven dangerously near to the point of collapse. It is a routine way of racing and students of the whipping debate will recall readily enough that when Maguire's brilliant uncle, Adrian, won the 1993 King George VI Chase in a desperate finish he too was suspended for using the whip too freely. The winner's trainer, David Nicholson, was indignant, saying: "It was an epic race and neither horse was under pressure until after the last. My horse has not been marked." The issue is not the degree of incriminating evidence. It is the real purpose of the whip. Racing says, quite disingenuously, that primarily it is a directional guidance, a sort of equine version of satnav which is also equipped to deliver a timely whack to an inattentive driver. Reality – as former trainer Charlie Brooks recently pointed out in a bracing argument for the complete banning of the whip – is that the reason for its existence is precisely the one exploited by Maguire on Saturday. It is to dredge up the last physical reserves of a horse that has come under pressure, or, put another way, gone beyond the best that it has. Unsurprisingly, Sir Peter O'Sullevan, a leading supporter of horse charities across the world, belongs to the Brooks school of reasoning. O'Sullevan talks passionately of the thoroughbred's love of racing and here recently recalled how disconsolate his beloved Attivo became when he was finally put out to pasture. Naturally, he sees the contradiction in the picture of a great horse doing what comes to it so naturally right up the point where the whipping ensues. When, this is, the need to win dwarfs all others. Racing cannot have it both ways. It cannot claim to be merely providing the means for thoroughbred expression while throwing in a hurtful device just to make sure. When the great Lester Piggott was banned for stealing, in mid-race, the whip of his rival Geoff Lewis he was bemused. The Long Fella didn't see the problem, saying: "He was never going to win." Now, perhaps as never before, racing has to take a rather broader view. Quote
RDU_64 Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 Well if the shoe fits I'll wear it. Stop horsing around. Keeping this thread away from the puns is mane thing. Quote
CtS Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 The sight of two dead horses under tarpaulin covers was not so unfamiliar and when jockey Peter Toole was rushed to hospital with life-threatening head injuries it was another reminder that the collateral damage of a race like the Grand National can be both severe and unavoidable. The Jockey wasn't injured in the Grand National. Quote
Goldie03 Posted April 12, 2011 Report Posted April 12, 2011 My daughters watched the race with me for the first time and were really upset when the horses died - oddly enough it didn't seem to bother them a few years ago when we were at the racing in Musselburgh and a horse broke it's neck right in front of us Quote
scotfree Posted April 13, 2011 Report Posted April 13, 2011 These hippy fuckers tuck into their battery chickens and bacon from pigs reared in 5ft by 3ft cages - and then have the cheek to come on here greetin their dreaklocked heids aboot a horse getting a skelpit erse... I don't eat Pig or battery reared Chicken. Ohh and i don't have Dreadlocks. Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted April 15, 2011 Report Posted April 15, 2011 anyone got any tips for the Scottish Grand National? Quote
glasgowdon Posted April 15, 2011 Report Posted April 15, 2011 anyone got any tips for the Scottish Grand National? Not a clue man. I'll post any intel I am given though. Quote
BobbyBiscuit Posted April 15, 2011 Report Posted April 15, 2011 Not a clue man. I'll post any intel I am given though. cheers, it's actually for a girl in work who is going to it tomorrow. Dusty Carpet... never been beaten The old ones are indeed the best! Quote
manc_don Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 Anyone got any tips for this years National? We've just done an office sweepstake and i've got Killyglen, who according to BBC is at 16-1. But i'm curious as to who I should be looking at to put a bet on. Quote
glasgow sheep Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 Where could I find a print out or something so I can organise a sweep stake? (ie can't be arsed writing out names on bits of paper) Quote
manc_don Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/horse-racing/17674008 Quote
glasgow sheep Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 You're my very own google manc Quote
maverick sheep Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 already been at least 1 fatality at aintree this year. i'm running out of sports to turn my fucking back on!! Quote
glasgow sheep Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 already been at least 1 fatality at aintree this year. i'm running out of sports to turn my fucking back on!! So you're not joining the sweepstake on Saturday? Quote
fatjim Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 already been at least 1 fatality at aintree this year. i'm running out of sports to turn my fucking back on!! At least they will have some horse meat to sell to the punters. Quote
glasgow sheep Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 At least they will have some horse meat to sell to the punters. Tasty Quote
caledonia Posted April 12, 2012 Report Posted April 12, 2012 Just stuck a tenner on sunnyhillboy @ 20/1 very good stayer Quote
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