In many forms of racing, steeplechase is considered
arduous. It derives its name from early races in which orientation of the
course was by reference to a churchsteeple, jumping fences and ditches and
generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside. In
Great Britain
and
Ireland
the official term now used
for the sport is National Hunt racing. The Grand National is a National Hunt
horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse near
Liverpool
,
England
.
First run in 1839, it is a handicap steeplechase over 4 miles 3½ furlongs with
horses jumping 30 fences over two circuits. The racecourse is triangular in
shape with 16 fences,all jumped twice except The Chair (15th) and the Water
Jump (16th). The course has a reputation as the ultimate test of horse and
jockey. Most starters fail to complete the two circuits, with many falling at
the famous fences including Becher's Brook, The Chair and the Canal Turn.
Aintree : As home to the John Smith’s Grand National,
Aintree Racecourse is known worldwide. Aintree’s racing year begins with the
three-day Grand National meeting in April – Liverpool Day to start, Ladies Day
24 hours later and then the Grand National Day itself on the final day. It is the longest race run in National Hunt
racing and requires the winner to negotiate two circuits of the track, 30
fences in total and cope with the longest run-in in the
United Kingdom
too. It is a sell out race where tickets
are hard to get.
Aintree racecourse endured a miserable opening to its Grand
Nationalmeeting when Battlefront, a competitor in the Fox Hunters' Chase over
the Grand National obstacles, died from a suspected heart attack after being
pulled up before the 15th fence. The 11-year-old gelding was trained by Ted
Walsh and ridden by his daughter Katie, who will team up again with Seabass,
one of the favourites, in Saturday's Grand National. The Fox Hunters' Chase was
the first race to be staged over the famous spruce fences since the wooden
cores of all but a handful of the obstacles were replaced with plastic, which
is designed to be more forgiving when a horse makes a jumping error. There were
four fallers during the race, including two at Becher's Brook, but no injuries
were sustained by either the horses or their riders.
The first race over the newly constructed Grand National
fences at Aintree on Thursday was not
entirely incident free – Katie Walsh’s mount Battlefront suffered a suspected
fatal heart attack after being pulled up – though the fences were generally
given the thumbs-up by jockeys. The jockeys’ verdict on the restyled fences,
which have had their core softened by the removal of wooden stakes, appeared to
be backed up by the statistics. From 24 starters in the John Smith’s Fox
Hunters’ Chase, 14 finished and, of the remaining 10, there were only four
fallers. One other unseated the jockey, while the rest were pulled up.
Walsh, who partners Seabass in Saturday’s Grand National,
was having a dream ride with Battlefront jumping exuberantly and leading the
field over Becher’s Brook. However, when the gelding rapidly began to
back-pedal through the field, she pulled him up at the 11th fence. The
11-year-old collapsed and died soon afterwards, a misfortune that could have
happened to him while working on the gallops at home. It was reported by the authorities that the
cause of death would be investigated with a post-mortem, and that the day had
otherwise been free of serious incident. It was stated that RSPCA inspectors
would examine footage of the race before drawing any conclusions.
Critics said that “Becher’s Brook is on a yellow card ; the
fence is still at an odd angle to the course,” “The horses are still encouraged
by jockeys who want to take the racing line to jump the fence at an angle and
that obviously creates greater stress and hazard for the horses as they’re
coming in to land. Controversy aside, the race proved that Aintree is still
capable of causing a fairytale result when it was won by the Scottish-trained
100-1 outsider Tartan Snow, a 13-year-old homebred gelding ridden by
18-year-old rookie Jamie Hamilton, having his first ride over the fences.
Animal welfare at the Grand National is already under
scrutiny after the death of Battlefront
which was pulled up - or withdrawn from competition - during the fourth
race by jockey Katie Walsh and later collapsed and died. The timing was
particularly unfortunate for Ms Walsh, who rides one of the favourites for the
Grand National on Saturday, after she defended the sport earlier this week,
saying in a magazine interview that the horses were treated better than 'many
children'. A regional director
north west
of Jockey
Club was quoted as expressing his
sympathies to Battlefront's owners and trainers, and adding: 'You can never
remove all risk from horse racing, as with any sport. More than 150,000 race
goers will descend on Aintree over the three day meeting, building up to the
world-famous Grand National steeplechase on Saturday.
With regards –
S. Sampathkumar
.
5th April 2013.
Photos courtesy :
www.dailymail.co.uk