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| Grand National, a huge spectacle and fatality-free, grows its TV audience | Grand National, a huge spectacle and fatality-free, grows its TV audience |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| My earliest memory of the Grand National is Red Rum’s first victory in 1973. I am sorry to say that I hated him for it, with all the single-minded determination that a distraught seven-year-old can muster. It seemed so unfair that he could come and beat Crisp in the final stride when the runner-up had been in front everywhere but the line. And yes, I did have 50p on Crisp. And no, I did not do him each-way. | My earliest memory of the Grand National is Red Rum’s first victory in 1973. I am sorry to say that I hated him for it, with all the single-minded determination that a distraught seven-year-old can muster. It seemed so unfair that he could come and beat Crisp in the final stride when the runner-up had been in front everywhere but the line. And yes, I did have 50p on Crisp. And no, I did not do him each-way. |
| But 24 hours later I had moved on because, like all but a fraction of the 8.8m people who watched this year’s race on Channel 4 on Saturday, I was on the outside looking in. The Grand National is unique and so is its audience, both in terms of its size and its once-a-year engagement with the sport. Most of those 8.8m – up from 8.5m last year – will not think about racing again until National day next year. This point is often overlooked by those on the inside looking out, above all when discussion turns to the transformation of the Grand National over the last 30 years. | |
| This year’s race was the third since significant changes were made to the fences following a series of fatal injuries to runners. It was also the third to be won by a horse near the top of the weights since Phil Smith, the senior handicapper, started to compress the top of the handicap nearly 15 years ago, although he conceded when this year’s weights were published in February that the degree of compression was less than in previous years. | |
| The perfect outcome, of course, would have been for Tony McCoy to ride into retirement on Shutthefrontdoor. In every other respect, however, the race provided its huge audience with the intense, exhilarating spectacle that they demand and expect from a National, and it did so, for the third year running, without any of the runners sustaining a fatal injury. | The perfect outcome, of course, would have been for Tony McCoy to ride into retirement on Shutthefrontdoor. In every other respect, however, the race provided its huge audience with the intense, exhilarating spectacle that they demand and expect from a National, and it did so, for the third year running, without any of the runners sustaining a fatal injury. |
| It is not quite an unprecedented run without a fatality, and Balthazar King, who suffered suspected broken ribs when falling at the Canal Turn on the first circuit, is still being treated for his injury at the University of Liverpool Equine Hospital. But it is the first time since the early 1990s that three Nationals in a row have passed without a fatal injury on the day and, while there will inevitably be deaths in the future, it no longer seems a 50-50 chance, as it once did (and probably was). | It is not quite an unprecedented run without a fatality, and Balthazar King, who suffered suspected broken ribs when falling at the Canal Turn on the first circuit, is still being treated for his injury at the University of Liverpool Equine Hospital. But it is the first time since the early 1990s that three Nationals in a row have passed without a fatal injury on the day and, while there will inevitably be deaths in the future, it no longer seems a 50-50 chance, as it once did (and probably was). |
| For the sixth time in the last nine years, Saturday’s winner, Many Clouds, was an outsider, a 25-1 chance to follow successes at 100-1, 66-1, 33-1 and Pineau De Re, also a 25-1 shot, 12 months ago. For racing insiders and devoted form students this might be a source of frustration too but again it is precisely what the National’s audience want and expect to see. | For the sixth time in the last nine years, Saturday’s winner, Many Clouds, was an outsider, a 25-1 chance to follow successes at 100-1, 66-1, 33-1 and Pineau De Re, also a 25-1 shot, 12 months ago. For racing insiders and devoted form students this might be a source of frustration too but again it is precisely what the National’s audience want and expect to see. |
| The much-respected Timeform organisation has been among the critics of the changes to the National, suggesting in recent years that it was in danger of becoming the “plastic Grand National”, and that Smith’s compression of the weights was unnecessary. “The Grand National is by far and away the most valuable race in the jumping calendar,” Timeform said in its Chasers & Hurdlers Annual after Aurora’s Encore went in at 66-1 in 2013. “Owners of the best chasers shouldn’t need any more incentive than that.” | The much-respected Timeform organisation has been among the critics of the changes to the National, suggesting in recent years that it was in danger of becoming the “plastic Grand National”, and that Smith’s compression of the weights was unnecessary. “The Grand National is by far and away the most valuable race in the jumping calendar,” Timeform said in its Chasers & Hurdlers Annual after Aurora’s Encore went in at 66-1 in 2013. “Owners of the best chasers shouldn’t need any more incentive than that.” |
| This, though, is another case of looking from the inside out. The huge purse is there at all only because the National is the one race all year that prompts millions of people to have a bet. Its value to racing during the rest of the year rests mainly on the money they leave behind. | This, though, is another case of looking from the inside out. The huge purse is there at all only because the National is the one race all year that prompts millions of people to have a bet. Its value to racing during the rest of the year rests mainly on the money they leave behind. |
| Saturday’s result, with Shutthefrontdoor and Rocky Creek both outside the first four and horses at 40-1, 20-1 and 25-1 twice in the frame, will benefit the Levy by several million pounds. It is money that will help to support prize funds on other days, persuading regular punters to maintain betting turnover and, perhaps, to buy Timeform products too. | Saturday’s result, with Shutthefrontdoor and Rocky Creek both outside the first four and horses at 40-1, 20-1 and 25-1 twice in the frame, will benefit the Levy by several million pounds. It is money that will help to support prize funds on other days, persuading regular punters to maintain betting turnover and, perhaps, to buy Timeform products too. |
| The National serves racing best as a unique annual spectacle that thrills its many millions of spectators, then all but disappears from the general consciousness for another 12 months. | The National serves racing best as a unique annual spectacle that thrills its many millions of spectators, then all but disappears from the general consciousness for another 12 months. |
| For the first time in a long time it now seems to be performing that role rather well. | For the first time in a long time it now seems to be performing that role rather well. |