Talk:Grand National

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What is the shortest Price a Horse has ever gone off in the national? Lazmac 10:52, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Answer;-- in 1935 Golden Miller was sent off at the insane price of 2/1. He had won the race in 1934 and the press hailed his as the greatest horse of all time. Despite winning in '34 Golden Miller hated Aintree and unseated his rider Gerry Wilson at the eleventh fence. Back in the days of the disputed Nationals of 1836-7-8 The Duke was sent off as the odds on 1/2 favourite in 1838. It should be noted that only three horses competed in 1838 {these being the days before the railways made it easier for horses to get to Aintree} For the record the Duke finished third Norniron

Contents 1 david thomas 2 Opening paragraph? 3 Mirabel Topham 4 Introduction statement of fatalities

[edit] david thomas

why did someone remove the info about the australian jockey David K. Thomas? Why was it allowed to be removed? Keltik31 16:14, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

This fact has been removed because it is both wrong and misleading. The first recorded rider of Australian birth to compete in the Grand National was William 'Willie Watkinson' who was born in Tasmania in 1886. In 1926 Watkinson not only rode in but won the event on Jack Horner. There may well have been other Australian riders pre war but this would require confirmation. While you are correct that a Mr Thomas did compete in 1950 on Stockman the fact that he was not the first of his nationality to compete makes it's appearance on this page not worthy enough to note.

William 'Willie Watkinson' never rode in australia. i have newpaper clippings of thomas being reported as the first australian rider in the national. david "bobber" thomas was my father. and who are you to say it is not note worthy? Keltik31 17:44, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

where did you get this information from? Keltik31 17:44, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

stop editing this part. he was the first australian rider, who actually raced in aussie, to ride in the national. if you cant prove me wrong, then dont edit it. Keltik31 21:51, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

There are a group of around twelve official historians of the race. I emailed one of them and he has replied to say that your stats on David Thomas being the first Aussie rider is wrong. Email him yourself if you like. His name is Steve Porter and his email is esplisburn@aol.com

Hopefully I can settle this matter with some detail on Australian riders and Australian born riders. William Watkinson was born in Tasmania as has been stated but did not ride competitively in Australia, arriving in Scotland as a teenager. On the issue of Australian experienced riders, Tommy Pickernell aka Mr Thomas, an Englishman by birth, made his name riding in Australia before the local professional riders raised a petition against him. He returned to England where he later became a very successful National rider. I'm afraid that I would have to agree with the original objector to this item being listed as being incorrect. While the poster should be justly proud of his father's participation he does remain just one of many hundreds of riders to have participated for whom each could have a unique claim to being mentioned.

so was there an australian-born jockey, who had actually races in aussie, who rode the national before my father did? Keltik31 00:47, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

There were quite a few Australian born and experienced riders who took the chance to stay in the UK after the first war. The only one who seems to have ridden in the National is A Saxby who took part in 1919.

Should a link to www.hometown.aol.co.uk/captainbeecher/NATIONALWINNERS.html not be retained as a source for this page? While Hometown is blacklisted for spam abuse this particular site is the most detailed web resource available on the race and has been used as the reference for the starting prices, weights etc of the winners.

did anyone who reads this know david k thomas aka "bobber thomas"? Ethmegdav (talk) 03:39, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Opening paragraph?

"It is also one of the most controversial, due to the number of injuries and fatalities suffered by the participating horses and has consequently been targeted by animal rights groups who have campaigned to have it banned"

This should be in a seperate section called Animal Rights Issues or something. It does not belong in the opening paragraph. Do others agree? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.183.136.194 (talk) 12:16, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

No I disagree. I am a huge fan and supporter of the race but it is a fact that the race carries with it controversy. I do agree however that the wording suggests that a horse is more likely to suffer injury or death competing in the National than in any other race. The truth is that a despite the huge nature of the fences, the National is probably the safest steeplechase in British racing as the levels of veterinary expertise at Aintree on national day is far superior to any other racecourse on Earth on any other day. Aintree is also close to a specialist horse hospital which has dealt with many horses that have suffered injury at the course. It is a fair point to state that many horses have recovered from injuries at Aintree which would otherwise have proved fatal at other courses because of the lack of such a hospital nearby. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Captainbeecher (talk • contribs) 20:31, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree with the previous comment. I'm also a great fan of NH racing and I've been to a few Grand Nationals but you can't get away from the fact that the race is pretty much the public face of jump racing, and equine fatalaties in it always get much more notice than similar events in other races. I'd leave the opening paragraph untouched personally.Bcp67 11:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

It does belong in the opening section, but could there at least be some fleshing out later in the article. Examples of protests perhaps, or some statistics on the rate of injury and death. Evil Monkey - Hello 02:22, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mirabel Topham

I am rather surprisesd that there is no mention of Mirabel Topham in the article's history section, or elsewhere on Wikipedia. I am no expert on the race, but it seems to me that her part in the race's history was sufficient to merit a mention. Viewfinder (talk) 12:15, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Introduction statement of fatalities

In the introduction it states that between 1991-2008 ere have been 51 equine fatalities and 1 human. While the statement is linked to an article which explains that these were not in the Grand National, the wording in wikipedia gives the readerthe idea that these were in the Grand National. I am therefore changing this statement to show that since the race was first run in 1839 there have been 57 equine fatalities and 1 human. Captainbeecher (talk) 10:10, 24 May 2008 (UTC)