Casulties

Having decided to have a few punts this week i've watched the racing closely over the last two days. I've been increasingly put off with the jumping races as the death toll from falls just keeps rising.

Is it me or do the Big fences at the back end of a race, seem to be there purely to bring down horses, thus adding to the excitement. I noticed the opening billing for the festival that comes on straight after the adverts seems to feature many falls – surely this sort of sensationalism is wrong?

Having now seen several horses twitching on the ground prior to being shot has put me off all but flat racing. 😥

worse things happen at sea. (the horses tend to drown after a while and to be honest whilst its shorter its far far duller)

Ah yes, the annual national hunt cull has begun, with the brave survivors targetted in a few weeks time at Aintree. It, thankfully, apart from two big meetings every year, is a sport struggling for popularity.

Heard them talking about the commitment and hardness of female jockeys on 5Live today…some cock said that the fact that two female jockeys being done for excessive use of the whip showed how hard and committed they are. Yeah, cheers for that.

Yes, I watched that race, I think it was the one that 'Mister Vic' was put down having led all the way prior to falling, the whole thing just left a sour taste in my mouth – pitty, because given a change of attitude, it could be a great sport to watch, may have well have watched a bullfight though.

@mr Nutt, i've actually been to sea, I imagine you've not.

As a hypothetical enquiry, I think that given the choice between existing, albeit without liberty and for the sole purpose of doing a dangerous job and not existing at all I'd go for the former.

It's difficult to come up with a consistent moral position that says that it's OK to have horse-racing but not OK to have race-horses getting hurt. That leaves you with getting squeamish about it, which, as mrnutt points out is a funny thing to get squeamish about given the vast number of horrors that we perpetrate on other animals (just not on the telly). 😕

I got mildly excited when I heard about the two ladies done for excessive use of the whip. I might try a compare and contrast session with lady gaga to help big dummy with his research on the other thread.

Will it upset the experiment if I incorporate excessive use of the whip into my Lady Gaga thoughts while I'm doing the research? It will, won't it? Rats. 🙁

My dog likes the ones they put down!