Grand National

[daf]

Five bob each way on 'Whistler's Mother'

[Sebastian Cobb]

Hooray for state sponsored animal cruelty!!

My money's on Sad Ken.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Good luck to all the horses running today.

Don't  break a leg ¡!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!odin

[Keebleman]

Tiger Roll v impressive.

Was at Cheltenham a few weeks back when he won the cross country there at a canter.

Picture on my TV was appalling, like a shitty YouTube upload.  Is it just my telly?  It's not normally like that.

[Fambo Number Mive]

If horse racing was banned, could Aintree Racecourse could be turned into playing fields for use by local state schools? Or should it be used  for community riding by horse owners who just like normal riding?

[Keebleman]

Why the hell do they insist on interviewing jockeys immediately after a race?  They're out of breath, emotional and are anyway some of the least articulate people on earth.

[Uncle TechTip]

Well the horses looked like they enjoyed themselves to me, big smiles on their faces.

[GMTV]

Hooray for state sponsored animal cruelty!!

My money's on Sad Ken.

A yearly reminder of the pain and suffering we all inflict on other animals.

[daf]

Instead of beating the arse off them them with a whip, I'd like to see some dangling carrots on fishing rods next year!

[GMTV]

The energy required to power CaB will result in a nominal climate change which will kill more animals per year on average than the grand national.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The energy required to power CaB will result in a nominal climate change which will kill more animals per year on average than the grand national.

You should do your bit by never posting here again.

[GMTV]

You should do your bit by never posting here again.

That bad feeling you have about the damage you're doing to the planet is valid.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Two horses died at the Grand National today.

Good article from the Independent, which was written before the horses died: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/grand-national-boycott-racing-animal-cruelty-a8856866.html

[Sebastian Cobb]

Ignoring the general poor treatment of horses by the racing industry; if the Grand National didn't exist and you proposed a race like it, you'd be told to fuck off because it's obviously pretty harsh. The only real defence of it is 'it's tradition!', the same excuses used for things like bullfighting and chucking donkeys out of towers. If your only defence of something when faced with mounting criticism is 'it's tradition', then it's pretty obvious you probably shouldn't be doing it.

[The Boston Crab]

It always makes me cry watching the Grand National. It's partly the deaths but it's just the sense that they're programmed and coerced to do this shit. When they say that the horse has a will to win, it's just madness. I actually know a guy who trains horses, he's one of the guys I go fly-fishing with (yeah, that is actually genuine) and he explains it to us every year and it's just madness to me. It's like me saying my cat likes being locked in at night. No, it suits me and restricts her life and freedom to the point that she no longer cries to go out because I don't want to lose sleep worrying about where she is.


In fairness to my mate who's a trainer, he finds the National disgusting and a death trap, he'd never race there even if he could. He prefers the smaller meets in general but goes to some of the larger events, just not the GN. I think it's also because he's a bit of a snob about it, too commercial and entry-level but I don't really understand any of it  I can kind of get on board with a six horse race, though, in excellent conditions.

[Fambo Number Mive]

If the gambling element wasn't there I presume it would have been banned long ago, but given how much money there is in gambling and how many voters love betting on which horse will win the race first, it's harder to shift than fox hunting.

[The Boston Crab]

My wife's mate's son makes a living from betting on horses. Genuinely. He makes about £150k a year net. I expect it'll all go and he has no savings but he tends to be very particular about where and when he bets and he bets hard. It's an interesting and very strange life. I don't feel money has any value except for that which I'm paid. It must be weird earning interest and rent or whatever.

[DrGreggles]

Yeah, but I got 2nd and 4th, so swings and/or roundabouts innit.

[Sebastian Cobb]

My wife's mate's son makes a living from betting on horses. Genuinely. He makes about £150k a year net. I expect it'll all go and he has no savings but he tends to be very particular about where and when he bets and he bets hard. It's an interesting and very strange life. I don't feel money has any value except for that which I'm paid. It must be weird earning interest and rent or whatever.

I know someone who makes money gambling, but they do it in such a way they lay things off at betting exchanges so they 'can't lose' which turns it more into a lot of meticulous admin and work and removes any sense of risk or thrill one typically associates with gambling.

This is someone who has to monetise their hobbies though, they'll get into something and before long they'll be buying and selling things related to it to make coin. It seems a bit depressing to me. Cost of everything value of nothing type business.

[The Boston Crab]

That's pretty much the opposite of how I feel about life. Depressing as fuck.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Well that's it. Trying to make money is confined to working hours, of course I'd like more money, but I'm not willing to spend my time outside work making that happen.

[shiftwork2]

Mine's still running!

[BlodwynPig]

My wife's mate's son makes a living from betting on horses. Genuinely. He makes about £150k a year net. I expect it'll all go and he has no savings but he tends to be very particular about where and when he bets and he bets hard. It's an interesting and very strange life. I don't feel money has any value except for that which I'm paid. It must be weird earning interest and rent or whatever.

Bloody hell, we are peas in a (small) pod. Manifesto 62 and now bang on the nose about money too.

[BlodwynPig]

Mine's still running!

In the glue of his fallen comrades.

[buzby]

If horse racing was banned, could Aintree Racecourse could be turned into playing fields for use by local state schools? Or should it be used  for community riding by horse owners who just like normal riding?

It would become ousngi estates, and expensive ones at that - Aintree is one of the more upmarket areas around North Liverpool. All the land around the racecourse has either been turned into retail parks (on the A59 side, the site of the British Enka nylon factory, whose cooling tower used to be seen in old TV footage of the race) and housing estates (the site of the old Railway Signal Co. works and  Fazakerley railway sidings in the triangle bounded by Seeds Lane, the A506 and the Kirkby-Liverpool railway line, where they used to park trains for BR employees to watch the race).
Satellite view, for reference.

[biggytitbo]

I love sporting events where one of the competitors has to be shot at the end, they should do that with the snooker. Peter Ebdon misses an easy yellow and as to be taken round the back of the crucible and put to sleep.

[Ray Travez]

If the gambling element wasn't there I presume it would have been banned long ago, but given how much money there is in gambling and how many voters love betting on which horse will win the race first, it's harder to shift than fox hunting.

You're aware that fox hunting pretty much continues the same as it always has done, despite the ban?

[jobotic]

Don't fox hunting vermin do a little parade before the Grand National? It is a "hunt" after all.

[Fambo Number Mive]

You're aware that fox hunting pretty much continues the same as it always has done, despite the ban?

I was under the impression that only drag hunting was allowed. Are hunts just ignoring the ban then?

[Ray Travez]

Ignoring it, yes; and additionally legal drag hunts are being used to disguise illegal hunts.