Grand National

[Stewy]

Who knows the winner then? I don't know the runners and riders yet so will wait until Saturday before having my £2 bet!

I hope they all get around safely this year, it's such a shame to have to put them down.

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Who knows the winner then? I don't know the runners and riders yet so will wait until Saturday before having my £2 bet!

I hope they all get around safely this year, it's such a shame to have to put them down.

I dont like to watch it really ...Ive had a few winners over the yrs..normanlly I choose number 7 or 13 if availble..also ive visited lockinge near wantage to watch the point to point many times started going when i was a young girl...

Julie

[Stewy]

Paul Cole trains at Wantage (flat) and one of my ex girlfriends dad used to be best mates with the head lad so I used to get some useful info.

Lambourn has an open day which is good if you like your racing, you can walk around the yards and what not and feed the horses polo mints but I never have as I reckon they would have me fingers off!!!

Just had a peek at Paul Coles website, not too shabby is it???

Paul Cole

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Paul Cole trains at Wantage (flat) and one of my ex girlfriends dad used to be best mates with the head lad so I used to get some useful info.

Lambourn has an open day which is good if you like your racing, you can walk around the yards and what not and feed the horses polo mints but I never have as I reckon they would have me fingers off!!!

Got relations over at Lambourn ...went riding out with a few of the stables there..in those days all the jockeys were under 5foot...happy times....my grandfather was a jockey there many yrs ago before setting up stables over in Belgium..

Julie

[tufftie]

Oh dear this is another one of these ify topics, isn't it?!! I wont be betting or watching because i disagree with horse racing. when they are doing well (winning races or showing potential to win races) the horses may want for nothing but if not then most of them are put down because they are unsuitable for normal riding - mostly because they are too loopy loo due to all the in breeding. The other thing is that they're backed far too young - which isn't good for developing spines and bones. Then there is the other juicy issue of its links with hunting... Sorry hope i haven't sparked something here - just wanted to say why i wont be betting etc
Anyway good luck to those of you having a bet on it

[Stewy]

That's alright tufftie, everyone is allowed an opinion.

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by Stewy

That's alright tufftie, everyone is allowed an opinion.

let me know when you have all the names and numbers Stewy ...or post them in..we could all have a little number out of the hat ...if you no what i mean ...

Julie

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by tufftie

Oh dear this is another one of these ify topics, isn't it?!! I wont be betting or watching because i disagree with horse racing. when they are doing well (winning races or showing potential to win races) the horses may want for nothing but if not then most of them are put down because they are unsuitable for normal riding - mostly because they are too loopy loo due to all the in breeding. The other thing is that they're backed far too young - which isn't good for developing spines and bones. Then there is the other juicy issue of its links with hunting... Sorry hope i haven't sparked something here - just wanted to say why i wont be betting etc
Anyway good luck to those of you having a bet on it

I agree with you. Its a cruel sport, Its just money orientated. The horses are often sold at markets for next to nothing, dealers buy them sell them on to unsuspecting people. A lot of these horses are dangerous they are bred to race..I was nearly killed on one such horse.

My dad used to bet so I have nothing against the betting public. I wont be betting or watching. Every year at least one horse is put down after this race.

[mrs fish]

It is a tradition for me to bet on the Grand National, it is good fun once a year


I don't look until the morning to see what is running so will let you know then

[Stewy]

I won't be around this weekend, I'm off to Johnny Kingdom land!!

[juliejam]

Originally Posted by Stewy

I won't be around this weekend, I'm off to Johnny Kingdom land!!

Really...lucky you..dont let him catch you messing about in his pond looking for Bass...

Julie

[Stewy]

Originally Posted by juliejam

Really...lucky you..dont let him catch you messing about in his pond looking for Bass...

Julie

He'd have my guts for garters!! By the looks of the weather I expect it will be frozen over anyway so I'm not taking me rod.

I'm sure I'll find a bookies somewhere to have my wee punt, if I bump into JK I'll ask him if he knows the winner.

[wildmanofthewoods]

Originally Posted by juliejam

Really...lucky you..dont let him catch you messing about in his pond looking for Bass...

Julie

Thats ironic dont you think he's probably been kicked off private LAANNDDD many a time himself, now he's got a job on, keeping us lot off his


Grand National, its the only race i have a few quid on, more a tradition for me, tho i sympathise with the other argument.

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Who knows the winner then? I don't know the runners and riders yet so will wait until Saturday before having my £2 bet!

I hope they all get around safely this year, it's such a shame to have to put them down.

The winner will be........................................the one that finishes first

It's the only race I bet on and I've somehow managed to pick the winner from name only 3 out of the last 4 years. The only reason I didn't win last year is because my missus picked the horse first and we don't pick the same ones.

Cheers,

Adam

[Gill Catton]

I probably won't bet because I'l probably forget but I enjoy the event - though I too am sad when an animals as to be put down.

The industry too perhaps is a little sad - but still those horses have a better life than many other farmed animals and the stable girls and boys that work with them live and breathe and love horses (i know because my sister was a groom - though not for racehorses) so much at least they are individually cared for and not in a herd of hundreds. So perhaps if you fund the meat or dairy industry that's really not much better?

The fact that a riderless horse will -continue to run and even perhaps beat the rest illustrates to me that they enjoy the running - even if conditioned to do so.

I do think too that if a riderless horse should win - that win should be recognised. They may be carrying less weight so have an advantage there but they are also not being given guidence by a jockey and are winning for the love of it which has to be the best way of winning it seems to me!

[tufftie]

A riderless horse will continue with the others mainly because they act on herd instinct. though all horses enjoy a good gallop

Not sure that you can really compare a sport to farming and I'm not sure that just because one treats it's animals better that makes it okay?

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by tufftie

A riderless horse will continue with the others mainly because they act on herd instinct. though all horses enjoy a good gallop

Not sure that you can really compare a sport to farming and I'm not sure that just because one treats it's animals better that makes it okay?

well it is farming really but the animals are bred to run and then presumably become pet food or possibly fertilizer (sorry folks but that's probably the reality) instead of for milk or meat.

My point is that in terms of keeping animals for meat or milk these horses are not so badly off when compared with the sad caged majority. I know you're vegan and against all of it and I admire that. I don't have your strength and actually I want to fund the movement to get back to obtaining our food in a kinder and more sustainable manner and also I feel eating meat and dairy etc keeps us more closely connected to our evolved place in the food web and natural ecology - but that's another thread!!.

I buy milk from poor dairy cows who have beed bred to have udders too big for their spine to take, animals that may well be in pain all their adult lives, animals that lose their babies well before they're ready to. That to me is just as sad - and I can't wait until the day I can have a house cow or find a lovely smallholder and I can get milk from a happier cow with better constitution and a baby she gets to keep but for now that's all I can do.

what I'm trying to say is that while I am involved in horrible things like that I don't see how I can critisize racing without being a bit of a hippocrit

[tufftie]

Yes - quite a lot do just end up as pet food and fertilizer. Though it wouldn't happen if there wasn't the sport - that side of it is just a way to make money from the horse when it fails to make the grade. So in a way the farming side of it is just a by product of the racing industry.

I have to admit that i am no longer vegan but am very careful about where i get my animal products from and I think we're going to need to start anew thread on that one or we'll be going way off topic

There's also the other issues - bad backs caused by riding them when they are too young and the links with hunting. surely if you can criticize farming standards you can do the same with racing without being a hippocrit?

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by tufftie

There's also the other issues - bad backs caused by riding them when they are too young and the links with hunting. surely if you can criticize farming standards you can do the same with racing without being a hippocrit?

No personally I don't feel I can when Mrs cow goes through worse. And if they didn't have the horses for petfood they'd only breed something else to fill that supply gapo and it would probably have a worse life than a racehorse.

Also I think there would still be hunting without racing and a hunter is usually a different type or horse to those used in racing, stronger I believe, - closer to those used in showjumping.
Plus its not the horse aspect of hunting I disagree with its how the Fox meets its end. I have no problem with folks hareing through the countryside on Horseback - I can see its probably great fun - just wish they'd leave the dogs behind.

[The Black Rabbit]

The nation loves the national.
The horses love the race.

Want two horses worth a flutter?
Always good to bet on a gelding less than 10 years old, carrying less than 11 stone, who has completed the distance before...


Comply or Die (2nd fav)
Tumbling dice. VERY good outsider at odds of 50 to 150-1 if you shop around...

You read it here first...

[tufftie]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

No personally I don't feel I can when Mrs cow goes through worse. And if they didn't have the horses for petfood they'd only breed something else to fill that supply gapo and it would probably have a worse life than a racehorse.

Also I think there would still be hunting without racing and a hunter is usually a different type or horse to those used in racing, stronger I believe, - closer to those used in showjumping.
Plus its not the horse aspect of hunting I disagree with its how the Fox meets its end. I have no problem with folks hareing through the countryside on Horseback - I can see its probably great fun - just wish they'd leave the dogs behind.

Going to keep off the hunting topic but racing and hunting are connected but not by the horses. Yes - hunt horses and race horses are very different but then as long as it can jump and has stamina any horse can hunt.

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by tufftie

Going to keep off the hunting topic but racing and hunting are connected but not by the horses. Yes - hunt horses and race horses are very different but then as long as it can jump and has stamina any horse can hunt.

Not even close to being factually correct.
Not heard of "The Foxhunters" at Aintree Tufftie? (Just as one example).

[tufftie]

Originally Posted by The Black Rabbit

Not even close to being factually correct.
Not heard of "The Foxhunters" at Aintree Tufftie? (Just as one example).

Well i know the Foxhunter show jumping competition is to do with a horse called foxhunter nothing to do with hunting. Was always told that races with jumps were all under National Hunt regulations etc? Not quite sure in which way you're meaning but the big irish bred hunters (for example) are nothing like racing thoroughbreds..by way of conformation. I was told once about he connections but errr..i've forgotten! So - explain it to me again please Doug

If this doesn't make sense my mind is on the weekend