The 'I am not betting on the National' thread
pinno
Posts: 52,312
Now don't get me wrong and before you jump on the bandwagon, I love horse racing. I attended every Cheltenham festival between 1995 and 2003.
From the Prix De L'Arc de Triomphe to some 3 mile slog at Newton Abbott on soggy ground, horse racing is fascinating to me.
The Midlands National at Utoxeter, the Scottish National at Ayr, the North East National at Hexham etc are all over fences. The fence is a standard height repeated at similar courses nationwide. Horses and Jockeys get used to that height, they can practice them on the gallops.
The fences at Aintree are far too big, the race is far too much of a lottery to merit any betting done with the head and not the heart or a whim, it is not a distance repeated elsewhere and the wonder of the endurance of horse and rider gets lost in the mire of death.
It is a morbid event frequented by screaming and hysterical people fueled by drink and fervour.
From the Prix De L'Arc de Triomphe to some 3 mile slog at Newton Abbott on soggy ground, horse racing is fascinating to me.
The Midlands National at Utoxeter, the Scottish National at Ayr, the North East National at Hexham etc are all over fences. The fence is a standard height repeated at similar courses nationwide. Horses and Jockeys get used to that height, they can practice them on the gallops.
The fences at Aintree are far too big, the race is far too much of a lottery to merit any betting done with the head and not the heart or a whim, it is not a distance repeated elsewhere and the wonder of the endurance of horse and rider gets lost in the mire of death.
It is a morbid event frequented by screaming and hysterical people fueled by drink and fervour.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!
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If betting was not allowed or banned would anyone actually watch horse racing.I find it utterly boring.
I can watch all manner of racing,cycling of course,athletics,motor sports but horses are so dull to watch.Cannondale CAAD 8 105
Rockrider 8.10 -
Davdandy wrote:If betting was not allowed or banned would anyone actually watch horse racing.I find it utterly boring.
A lot of the horse racing in Saudi is frequented by people who don't bet. It is against their religion. They have a love of horses and it is part of their culture.
Whether it would be the same in the UK, that is another question.seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
I've not bet on the National for years, I just watch now as a spectacle and safe in the knowledge that my blood pressure won't go through the roof.0
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Horse-racing has never really appealed to me, but yes it sounds like the organisers could massively improve the safety for the horses with a few relatively minor changes (lower fence heights, perhaps reduced field size). But on the other hand, thousands of animals are unnecessarily killed every day for the food industry but noone cares because that's not on television. People need to get off their high-horses about it (aha).0
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I bet on it every year.
This year I backed the winner, and my modest £2 e.w. has netted me £66.50, I'm chuffed.
The older I get, the better I was.0 -
The National is the only horse race we bet on and my 2 sons have always enjoyed having a bet ( they are now 19 and 17). This year we bet £15 in all as a family and my wife picked the winner! So just collected £29 in winnings and won't now bet again till next year.0
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After last years race I felt the race has had to much of the unpredictability taken out of it due to animal rights brigade being pandered to. However I did watch and it turned out to be quite eventful.Tail end Charlie
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.0 -
Didn't get time to place a bet this year, but I watched the race round my brother's house as he was looking after my little girl, so I picked out a horse to back from the list of runners and riders just prior to the race. It fell at the third.....which is two fences more the my picks usually last!!0
