SO the horror that is the Grand National is over for another year. Wish it was over for good, with two horses killed and another nine that fell or were brought down.
Forty horses started and the two deaths were ‘a grim reminder of the dangers in the spectacle’.
The winning horse was close to exhaustion, and no wonder, his jockey was given a five-day suspension ‘for excessive use of the whip’. How long before that takes away a win from the perpetrator, otherwise there’s no deterrent.
All in all, the dead and fallen horses are evidence of the brutal toll the four-and-a-half miles and steep fences can still, despite ‘improvements’, take on fragile limbs.
Think on this, before you bet on the Grand National again, show your disapproval by opting out of workplace sweeps.
SHEILA CLAYTON, Southampton.
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