“Unacceptable Number of Fatalities”: Equestrian Community Reacts as Protesters’ Actions Leave Decorated Jockey’s Horse Injured

Recently Grand National was in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Animal rights activists delayed the event by 15 minutes by gaining access to the Aintree race track in Scotland. Protestors belonging to the Animal Rising campaign group were detained by the police forces after they tried to climb and fix themselves to the fence using lock-on devices and glue.

The death of Hill Sixteen, a 10-year-old gelding, during the race, has only aggravated the situation. The protests didn’t go well with the racing community. They condemned the protestors and blamed them for accidents during the game. Sandy Thomson, the trainer of Hill Station, says the delay caused by the protestors has resulted in the horse’s fall. Veteran jockey Davy Russell was of a similar opinion.

Davy Russell the veteran national hunt jockey opens up about the incident

Russel, the 43-year-old, rode two Grade 1 winners before retirement. The two horses, Irish Point and Gerri Colombe were trained by Gordon Elliott who urged Russell to come back onto the field, after a dissatisfying Cheltenham festival. Russel’s wife Edelle encouraged him to get back for Aintree as he deserved a better end game. However, the Grand National at Aintree didn’t go as planned as the protests delayed the race. 

Russel opened up about the protest while speaking with Luck On Sunday. While reacting to the incident, he said, “The horse is to the forefront of everything.” He added, “I‘m not quite sure the people who were protesting yesterday realize the damage that they were doing.”

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He finds the way the protests unfolded was reckless. “The experiences they were laying upon the horse, owners, and trainers was unnecessary,” the decorated jockey opined. The comments are coming from a place of hurt as Russel’s own horse Galvin reportedly had a leg cut by one of the ladders that were flanged by the protestors over the perimeter fence. But his statements didn’t go well with animal lovers.

Animal lovers react to Davy Russell’s statements

A commenter put his thought across by saying,” Not right for the protesters to put the horses and riders in any jeopardy. However, there is jeopardy in place any time a horse is jumping high fences. So the ‘sport’ itself should take the blame for the unacceptable number of fatalities of horses.” Another user asserted the cruelty of the sport by saying “Barbaric and should be banned forever. It’s shameless, moneymaking cruelty, nothing less.”

“A disgusting “sport”. It should have been abolished, decade’s ago,” says another animal lover expressing his anguish. “ The only ones who are reckless are the one’s putting those horses through that ridiculous course,” argues another commenter. “Horse racing is a thing of the past,” says another user as a matter of fact.

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What are your thoughts on the protests at the Grand National? Tell us in the comments.