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| |  Friday, 30 March, 2001, 11:00 GMT 12:00 UK Racecourse plays it safe There were no fatalities in last year's Grand National By BBC Sport Online's Sophie Brown Like all British institutions, the Grand National provokes passionate feelings both for and against the event. Just as the Boat Race attracts cries of elitism and the last night of the Proms arouses accusations of unhealthy jingoism, there are those who equate the Grand National with gross cruelty to animals. Although around 15 times as many horses are killed each year on Britain's roads as on the racecourse, horse racing has long been a target of animal rights activists. And the Grand National - with its taxing 4.5-mile course and 30 challenging fences and worldwide profile - is the annual focus of their protests. Last year, there were no fatalities in the Grand National itself although five horses were killed during the course of the three-day meeting. Over the last 20 years Aintree, in conjunction with the racing authorities, has made many modifications to the Grand National course, with a view to making it safer for the participants. These include alterations to the fences and the upkeep of the ground and the improvement of medical and veterinary facilities. Modifications to the fences have centred around two of the most notorious obstacles - the Chair and Becher's Brook.
One of the problems with these fences was that the drop on the landing side was much greater than the height on the take-off side. These have been levelled off to even up the disparity between take-off and landing. The height of the Chair has also been reduced to five feet two inches although it is still the tallest and broadest obstacle on the course. In addition, the first fence has been widened by two metres to accommodate the traditional bunched rush which begins as the race starts. This will prevent some of the pile-ups that have taken place in years gone by. The course also makes use of a watering system that keeps the ground in a prime condition for racing. In the past, it has often been the impact of the landing on the hard ground that has caused injuries to horses. Medical care There have also been improvements to the medical and veterinary procedures. Each horse is now inspected by a vet before the race to ensure it is fit. Other changes include a trough of water and oxygen masks near the finishing line for horses.
"The medical and veterinary facilities at Aintree are second to none," says the course's marketing manager Dickon White. The course's safety review is an ongoing procedure and changes have been made since last April. Aintree has consulted with leading owners, trainers and jockeys as well as carrying out a review in conjunction with authorities such as the Jockey Club. In addition the course - along with Cheltenham and the RSPCA - has been funding research into factors influencing the risks of falls in National Hunt racing. The �150,000 three-year programme is collecting data about falls and looking at how course and jump design may have influenced them. The main change for this year's race regards the design of the fences, which has been modified to make them more like the fences on other racecourses. The obstacle's front now slopes up to the top of the fence rather than appearing as an upright at right angles to the ground. Horse racing can be a dangerous game but Aintree says the safety of horses and jockeys is of the utmost importance to them. "A lot of the injuries that have happened here at Aintree in the past five years could have happened at any racecourse," says White. "But what happens is that if a horse unfortunately loses its life here at Aintree, people automatically assume it's down to the Grand National, even though it may not be. "There are no statistics which support that any more horses are killed at Aintree than at any other racecourse," he adds. | |
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