The Grand National

[CanucksTraveller]

I had a tenner each way on Mrs Boothroyd's Holiday Dancer.
Fell at the first and was shot. They'll never get it in the back of a Volvo 340.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Ah well, I bet in hope rather than expectation.

Bloody annoying though as I picked Minella Times last year but could not place my £10 bet because non essential shops could not open till two days after the race which cost me £140.

 

[vickster]

Ah well, I bet in hope rather than expectation.

Bloody annoying though as I picked Minella Times last year but could not place my £10 bet because non essential shops could not open till two days after the race which cost me £140.

No Internet?

 

[Smokin Joe]

No Internet?

I won't bet online, all my bets are funded with what disposable income I have in my pocket. No cash, no bet.

Besides, a trip to the bookies is a bit of a social occasion. I know the staff and often one or more of the fellow near do wells who furnish these establishments, and you can watch a few sporting events on the big screens while you're there.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Just a few of things wrong with that post.
1) That's not Aintree.
2) They don't shoot horses anymore.
3) Dead horses are not left covered up at the side of the track.
4) All horses made it back to the stables.

It was quite a famous joke from The Day Today Darius, Alan Partridge's first outing in the 1990s. The tarpaulin is covering some sand, but he wondered out loud if it was a horse. There's a whole segment where he commentates from the race meeting.

You also missed off your little list that "Mrs Boothroyd's Holiday Dancer" is clearly a spoof horse name.

Tough crowd this!

 

[Poacher]

Just a few of things wrong with that post.
1) That's not Aintree.
2) They don't shoot horses anymore.
3) Dead horses are not left covered up at the side of the track.
4) All horses made it back to the stables.

Was Discorama a non runner then, or did they drag it back to the stables still alive before dispatching it?

Edit: Ah, apparently the latter, that doesn't count then.

 

[Brandane]

I got my £20 stake money on 2 bets back (less £1) thanks to Fiddler on the Roof coming 5th, and Ladbrokes paying out for 5th place on each way bets. If Any Second Now had not been outrun by that 50/1 outsider, I would have been £110 better off tonight. I thought it was a dead cert after the last fence .

 

[Beebo]

Was Discorama a non runner then, or did they drag it back to the stables still alive before dispatching it?

Edit: Ah, apparently the latter, that doesn't count then.

Very odd. The horse was pulled up. So didn’t fall. But had a pelvic injury which resulted in euthanasia. I know absolutely nothing about horse medicine, is a pelvic injury untreatable? Or is the horse just beyond economic repair, as they say in the car world.
There were two other horse which died over the weekend, so three died in total at Aintree. Which seems a lot to me.

 

[MontyVeda]

I reckon its the 'economic repair' theory. Seeing the eyewatering costs my friends fork out for the dog or the cat, I expect the cost of repairing a horse will be proportionate to its greater size.

 

[Badger_Boom]

It was quite a famous joke from The Day Today Darius, Alan Partridge's first outing in the 1990s. The tarpaulin is covering some sand, but he wondered out loud if it was a horse. There's a whole segment where he commentates from the race meeting.

You also missed off your little list that "Mrs Boothroyd's Holiday Dancer" is clearly a spoof horse name.

Tough crowd this!

View attachment 639232

You’ve just reminded me of a quiz Mark Radcliffe used to run on his Radio 1 afternoon show “Dobbins or Bobbins” where callers had to pick real racehorse names from fakes. A lot harder than it seems.

 

[KnittyNorah]

I reckon its the 'economic repair' theory. Seeing the eyewatering costs my friends fork out for the dog or the cat, I expect the cost of repairing a horse will be proportionate to its greater size.

It's not 'just' economics - it's also mercy and practicality.

Due to a horses structure, psychology and physiology, a horse cannot be made to 'rest' or remain immobile, 'lying down', 'still' or even 'quiet' in order to permit satisfactory bone healing.

Generally, weightbearing needs to be avoided or severely restricted if a bone is to heal, but horses cannot be maintained in any sort of health for more than maybe a couple of days, if they must lie down and be inactive. Horses even sleep standing up. Lying down is something they do do, of course, but only for relatively short periods - a couple of hours. Slings can be used to keep a horse upright as a leg injury heals (only some horses which have a calm disposition will tolerate this) but these bring problems of their own, the main one being that the hoof acts as a mechanical blood pump that works when a horse takes a step. They have no muscles in their lower leg or foot to aid the return of blood to the heart, and the hoof acts as a pump instead. Without being able to move about and stand on its non-injured legs, abscesses and laminitis (an excruciatingly painful condition) will develop. Horses are also very large animals and cannot benefit from the sort of 'help' and assistance which it is fairly easy to give a cat or a dog by an individual human. Purpose-built lifting and moving equipment and a team of people are needed for even the simplest procedure.

I don't know if anyone remembers the stallion Barbaro? This young stallion - a Kentucky Derby winner - 'broke down' a few strides into a race with a complex hind leg fracture; apparently he was also a 'real pet' and very cooperative and calm. Although lengthy and repeated surgeries, slings, pins, fibreglass casts and external braces resulted in the healing of his fracture - albeit with fused joints - laminitis and abscesses in both hind hooves resulted in his euthanasia some eight or nine months after his initial fracture.