Auroras Encore ridden by Ryan Mania goes over the water jump during the 2013 Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool
I know I covered the Grand National last week, but it was such an interesting race this year that I thought I’d write about it again.
Firstly of course, South Africa can lay claim to a small piece of Auroras Encore’s glory, because he is by Second Empire, who originally came to do stud duties at Oaklands Stud in Wellington and finished his life in the KZN Midlands. He was owned by Manny and Mandy Testa of Midlands Thoroughbreds and stood at Yellow Star Stud.
I don’t know whether Oaklands set a bit of a trend as Second Empire’s Oaklands barn mate Medaaly was repatriated to Ireland and also went on to sire good horses over fences. Bob Champion and Aldaniti were childhood heroes of mine, and I was particularly taken with the interviews Bob gave leading up to this year’s National.
He has the most wonderful Yorkshire accent and seems to be perennially cheery and keen to talk about his favourite sport. Interestingly, Mr Champion was in favour of the changes to the Grand National course, but he managed to state his opinion charmingly – “I was never for the alternations, I must tell you personally, but I walked round the course this morning. They’ve done a fantastic job. The fences look the same, they’ve taken all the big stuff out of it and put plastic birch in and then laid it with the new spruce. They’ve done a really good job, let’s be honest.” Can’t say fairer than that!
While the traditionalists maintain that The Grand National should remain the ultimate test and people shouldn’t ‘fiddle’ with it, Aintree and the BHA have moved with the times (bowed to pressure?) and made a number of modifications in order to make the event safer and theoretically more pleasant to watch.
Huge viewership
Considering that the National is considered the biggest horse racing event in the world (broadcast to 140 countries and enjoying somewhere around 500 million viewers) it’s quite important to get right.
Channel Four were handling the broadcast for the first time, there was a certain amount of pressure on lady rider Katie Walsh (who topped the betting boards on Seabass) and of course both supporters and protagonists of the new course layout were biting their nails before the event.
So, the question on everyone’s lips was – did they succeed? Like most things, yes and no. From my vantage point perched on the edge of my coffee table with my head practically in the screen, it seemed to ride well.
There were a number of comments from the commentators about horses making bad mistakes, but for the first time in history, all 40 runners made it to the Canal Turn (fence no 8).
In the end, there were only 2 fallers, 6 riders were parted from their mounts, and 17 horses finished the testing track, while the rest pulled up. The loose horses seemed to quietly make their way off the course, there were no major hiccups and best of all, all the runners and riders went home in one piece. The detractors are of course quick to say it’s not the first time all the finishers were OK.
However, in typically understated British style, Roly Owers of World Horse Welfare commented: “Aintree can take considerable credit for the improvements they have made to the course. It is too early to say with certainty whether the softer fences are making a difference, but … the initial signs are encouraging.”
Tradition vs Safety
Auroras Encore & Ryan Mania celebrate winning the John Smiths Grand National
I was feeling rather pleased for everyone on their efforts and then received a message from a racing friend summing up their experience of the race – “Well, that was rather unexciting, wasn’t it?” So do the traditionalists have a point after all?
If so, it is a rather depressing one. Our local broadsheets shuffled up some of their valuable space on the back rugby and soccer results page to squeeze in a brief National report, although it predictably focussed on the two fatalities, rather than any of the other, rather more magical bits.
Is the National the greatest race of all simply because of its fearsome reputation and humans’ macabre fascination for disaster? Is it possible that the only time the outside world finds us interesting is when we’re killing horses?
I truly hope not. I’d like to think that if the safety aspect is addressed, the showpiece can be appreciated anew as a spectacle of skill and endurance, but on the other hand, one could say the same of chess, and that doesn’t make for very good television, does it?
When I rang a riding friend to ask whether they were watching the race, the response was a flat “No. I don’t like watching horses die.” So if Aintree is boring the traditionalists, but still alienating the ‘bunny huggers’, one rather wonders about the way forward. It will be interesting to see what happens next time round.
National Magic
Either way, the National did come up trumps with a bucket load of wonderful stories. Winning rider Ryan Mania nearly quit riding two years ago because of the hardships and limited opportunities he faced as an up and coming jockey trying to make a name for himself.
But in true Cinderella style, he toughed it out and triumphed over the greatest track of all. For all the soft-touches who say that the jumping fraternity do not care for their horses, I was thrilled to see the following comment on Ryan’s Facebook page on Sunday morning – “Thought I would have been ready to sleep when I got home last night but suddenly I realised I had won the Grand National 2013 and never slept a wink.
Just on my way down to Sue Smiths to give Auroras Encore a big hug.” Aaaah!! Unfortunately Ryan had a bad fall at another race meeting on Sunday afternoon and is still in hospital awaiting an MRI, but seems to be taking it all in his stride, joking “What a difference 24 hours makes.”
Evan Williams, the trainer of second placed horse Cappa Bleu, has had a placed runner in each of the last 5 Nationals, but took this year’s second in good grace – “How can you be disappointed to finish second in the Grand National?”
The third placed runner was brought home by Nick Scholfield for lady trainer Rebecca Curtis, who speculated that the weight probably told on her charge in the end, but she was delighted with their round nonetheless.
The fourth horse was yet another National place finish for amateur rider Sam Waley-Cohen, who finished well on Oscar Time. This is their second National – they finished 2nd in 2011 and placed 4th again last weekend.
Sam has the distinction of being the first amateur to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 30 years when riding his father’s Long Run to victory in 2011. He has also finished 3rd on two other occasions. The grandson of Lord Mayor of London Bernard Waley-Cohen, Sam combines his National Hunt riding with a busy business career, managing dental chain Portman Healthcare with great success. As a result of his adventurous spirit and fierce determination on the riding field, he has come to be known as one of ‘the last of the Corinthians’.
We didn’t get the hoped for ‘National Velvet’ finish for Katie Walsh and Seabass, but winning trainer Sue Smith is only the third woman in history to train a National winner. Sue is married to world-famous show-jumper Harvey Smith (although she was an international show-jumper in her own right) and she is once quoted as saying “Of course, Harvey’s the one who has the famous name, but it makes no difference to me whatsoever. I don’t wake up in the morning and think ‘God… Harvey Smith!’ We’re a team; we work together.” With his wife now rather firmly in the limelight, one rather wonders what Harvey said when he woke up on Sunday morning!
