Jonathon,

I'm half English and use to go there a lot growing up as well as going to school there after college. I love the jumpers and this race in particular. To be in England today is like a major holiday and this race is the talk of the entire Country..everyone has one picked out. How we get people over on this side of the pond to like racing that much?

Stand corrected...

You must be a polytrack fan....Your judging the race just as those who judge flat racing here as being barbaric and cruel. No difference.

with National Hunt racing, you still have so much in what is great about racing, horses racing from say 4 until 12, 8, 9 seasons of seeing a horse run, no retiring for breeding interests, real small town owners, trainers, hard as nails jockeys..

if and when im rich enough, id invite anyone sceptical about jump racing to come over here and spend the winter months following the sport...

Grand National Form - 24 pages
 

Small action each way bets on:

11 - Butler Cabin - 16-1
24 - Baily Breeze - 66-1
35 - Kelami - 40-1
39 - Philson Run - 25-1
40 - Dun Doire - 25-1

Snowing Morning
Point Barrow
Philson Run

Could only bet to win at Bodog..So Bigs let's route this Philson Run home!


Also, thanks for the live video tout to watch this..awesome!

Spyder

Saw another one in the first race today, a listed handicap hurdle. Poquelin, one of the fancied runners, dumped top jock Ruby Walsh along with his bridle early on, hugged the rail in mid-pack, made his move on the final turn, and took the lead off the final hurdle, holding the official winner off by a length all the way to the wire. He was even banged into the inner rail at one point, but that didn't bother him at all; he had a race to win!

Im on the Philson Run Bandwagon too..

I'm a little leery of the free video offered at Racing post. It says it's free, but I'm afraid it may not be for people in the States. I guess we'll find out nearer to post time. If someone else has a site, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup.

Oh and go Philson....

LOL

Too bad he dumped his jock! :D

Looks like it may work. This is what the video says right now.


*edit* It is working! racingpost.co.uk

33 - Comply or Die wins it - 7-1 Chalk.
27 - King Johns Castle
16 - Snowy Morning
12 - Slim Pickings

King Johns Castle looked like a huge threat jumping the last, but Timmy Murphy had alot still left in the tank on the fav.

A sad postscript to the race was the fatal fall of McKelvey...

A shame.

Where they finished (... why I can't watch it)...

http://www.sportinglife.com/racing/n...nal_Order.html


1st Comply Or Die (7-1 joint-favourite)

2nd King Johns Castle (20-1)

3rd Snowy Morning (16-1)

4th Slim Pickings (10-1)

5th Bewleys Berry

6th Cloudy Lane

7th Nadover

8th Baily Breeze

9th Chelsea Harbour

10th Mon Mome

11th Hi Cloy

12th Cornish Sett

13th Hedgehunter

14th Idle Talk

15th Milan Deux Mille

Casualties:

2nd fence: Black Apalachi, Backbeat, L'Ami (all fell)

3rd fence: Tumbling Dice, Iron Man (both unseated)

4th fence: Ardaghey, Fundamentalist (both fell)

6th fence: No Full (fell)

8th fence: Madison Du Berlais, Philson Run (both fell)

11th fence: Contraband, Kelami (fell)

17th fence: Point Barrow (pulled up)

19th fence: Vodka Bleu, Bob Hall, Naunton Brook (all pulled up)

20th fence: Joaaci (fell), McKelvey (unseated)

22nd fence: Butler's Cabin (fell)

25th fence: Turko (fell), Knowhere (fell), Simon (unseated)

27th fence: D'Argent (fell)

29th fence: Dun Doire (pulled up)

30th fence: Mr Pointment (pulled up.

I'm entitled to my opinion and you can have yours. I don't have to repeat my opinion again and again. Shame on those, including you, that support this blood lust.

But you do.

McKelvey had become something of a TV star as he had been featured on a Prime Time BBC1 magazine show "The One Show"

A webcam was installed in his box and I think viewers could watch him 24/7 on the BBC website.

The show is watched by millions and the presenters will have a difficult task when the show returns on Monday evening.

I wondered beforehand if McKelvey really should run in the race this year. I know he was a gallant second last year, but he was hurt after that and his two come-back races this year were dreadful. In 2007, he came in off of a win in a hurdle race, but this time in came in after running a miserable last in a similar race. Had the feeling he was telling his folks that he wasn't quite ready for the big time yet and they weren't listening.

Sorry to hear about the fatal injury.

Was having a look for a replay but I can't watch any races in which that happens so I think I'll skip it. A shame.

If you bet on horse racing you're just as guilty. For you to make the distinction between the Grand National and the races you bet is not only judgemental but wrong. I bet more horses have broken down in races you've bet than the Grand National. If that's true the blood lust as you say is one you.

Spyder

Spyder...I'm treading lightly here because I truly know very little about this race, but isn't it a given that at least one horse is going to break every year? I understand the passion for effort, etc, but if here was one T-Bred race that every year there was a death, wouldn't that race be heavily criticized?

someone told me that McKelvey wasnt put down as one might suspect from the fall, but by colliding with a barrier afterwards.. There is constant ongoing work involved trying to make the racecourse much safer for loose horses..

Im certainly of the opinion that steeplechase racing prolongs the life of many horses who are deemed not to be so good on the flat and could just be discarded with. Our champion hurdle winner, Katchit was a very moderate flat horse who with a great heart and superb jumping technique won the best hurdle race at Cheltenham. If there was no jump racing, there is no telling where he could be now..

McKelvey was put down after striking a rail/barrier as brock said, not as a result of a fall in the race itself. A very unfortunate incident.

It's the only race I get nervous about watching, and over recent years I cannot look at the TV until they have jumped the first fence. That charge to the first is scary.

Comply Or Die was the horse for me yesterday, he ticked all the right boxes and he could be the sort of horse to come back and win it again next year. He has always been a safe jumper, and as he showed in the eider, he stays very well.

It was between him and Bewley's Berry for me yesterday.