Yes, horses are killed in dirt races and synthetic races and turf races and hurdle races and timber races, but nobody is saying "oh, you
know
that a horse is going to be killed in the Kentucky Derby this year". Because the Kentucky Derby has had exactly one fatality in its 137-year history, and that was a huge deal.
The death of Eight Bells in 2008 means an attrition rate of 1.02% in the last 5 years of the Kentucky Derby.
I am sure Miss Woodford, you’d say it is unfair to just look at 5 races (2008-2012) when there’s been 137 years of the Kentucky Derby. True. But you are only looking at the Grand National in a similar way. I think we both agree they’ve made terrific changes to the race, but is your opinion of the old Grand National fair? Just because there were 2 deaths in both 2011 and 2012 does not mean this was the norm.
Before last years event I went through the last 12 years of the Grand National meeting. ie 2012 and 2013 are not included. It would be unfair to look further back, as there’s been many changes to the race in preceeding years.
33 deaths in 12 years of the Aintree meeting, a 3 day meetings not just 1 race a year:
7 were in hurdle races.
1 in a FLAT RACE!
25 over fences.
Of those 25 deaths over fences, just
9
were in the Grand National.
479
horses ran in the Grand National in those 12 years.
9 out of 479 means 9 ‘/, 479 = 0.0188 a
1.88% attrition rate
!!! A rate fractionally
less than 1 per race
. So it was not "
known
" there’d be fatalities before the race as you claim.
Of the 9 fatalities,
only 5 “fell”
.
5 ‘/, 479 = 0.008. Photos of horses falling may look bad, but in fact
Just 0.8% of runners died from falling.
4 did not hit the deck. 3 unseated their jockey and ran loose, 1 was pulled up on the run-in.
1.88% in 12 years of the Grand National
1.02% in 5 years of the Kentucky Derby
Just one more death in the Kentucky Derby in that time would’ve produced a worse attrition rate than the Grand National. 