Grand National 2023 in Numbers: 118 Protesters Arrested, 70,000 People Attend & 1 Horse Death
When it comes to horse racing, few events capture the imagination quite like the Grand National. The ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’ is one of the toughest challenges that horse and jockey can be put through, which is why animal rights groups tend to target it for their disdain far more than the likes of the Cheltenham Festival.
This is in spite of the fact that more horses die at Prestbury Park than at Aintree, somewhat making a mockery of the idea that they are all about protecting the animals. This was a fact that was repeated this year, with delays to the race’s start likely to have contributed to some horses’ deaths.
Away from the antics of some off the field, it was the favourite for the race that ended up winning it. Corach Rambler started at odds of 8/1, having performed well during the Cheltenham Festival and been heavily backed as the race came around. Vanillier closed in on him towards the line but he had done enough after jumped into the lead at the last to hold on for the win.
It meant a second win in the National for trainer Lucinda Russell and jockey Derek Fox, given the fact that pair combined to win the race with One For Arthur back in 2017 and repeated the trick here.
Huge Attendances Once Again
The Grand National’s place in the public consciousness means that it is often one of the hottest tickets in town. When Noble Yeats won it last year, he did so in front of a crowd of 64,902. That was an increase of more than 1,000 from the 63,473 who attended in 2019, probably as a result of people being allowed to return to the course for the first time after one year without any racing and another without crowds in attendance.
The biggest attendance figure of the past decade came in 2015 when Many Clouds won in front of 68,103 people. There was a hope that that record might be broken this year.
Interestingly, attendance was actually down at the Cheltenham Festival. Overall, there were nearly 30,000 fewer attendees at Prestbury Park when compared to 2022, not least thanks to a cap on the attendance that was put in place on Gold Cup Day. The excitement of the National wasn’t to be quashed, however, and people turned up at Aintree Racecourse in their tens of thousands to watch the event pan out.
It was a sell-out crowd this year, with 70,000 in the stands for the four-mile event that features 30 fences during the course of it, asking serious questions of horse and jockey.
Protesters Make Their Voices Heard
The Grand National has long been the focus of animal rights protesters. In 1993, for example, protesters turned up at the start of the race, causing the starter to begin the event again. It took another six minutes before the horses were asked to line up again, but when they failed to start properly again another re-start was called for. The problem was, some of the jockeys thought that the stewards telling them to turn around were more protestors and so ignored them. That went down as the ‘race that never was’, with the winner cruelly informed that they had, in fact, not won.
The 2023 Grand National will be remembered for another attempt to disrupt the race, this time from a protest group called ‘Animal Rising’. The group aims to ‘rise up and take direct action to see an end to animal suffering in all its forms’. There is no doubt that that is a laudable aim, but the manner in which the group attempted to disrupt the ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’ probable wasn’t the best planned. Members of the group wearing pink t-shirts attempted to use glue and locking devices to ensure that they were attached to fences before being bundled away by police.
In the end, 118 people were arrested by Merseyside police for public order offences, including trying to delay the start of the race. They said, “Just after 5pm a large number of protesters attempted to gain entry on to the course. The majority were prevented from breaching the boundary fencing but nine individuals who managed to enter the course were later arrested by officers.”
The group itself claimed that between 40 and 50 members had been detained by the police in the first place. Regardless, the race was delayed by about 14 minutes over its planned start time.
There was help from locals in stopping the group from doing too much damage to the planned starting time of the race. ITV’s cameras showed people who live near the course heading out to throw ladders that had been propped up against fences over to the racecourse side in order to stop the protest group from being able to use them to get onto the course.
That is proof, perhaps, that the people of Aintree are in favour of the race, even if animal rights groups aren’t a fan of it. The decision to take ‘direct action’ to stop the animals being endangered was taken, but may have had unforeseen consequences.
The Grand National is usually preceded by a parade as well as the national anthem, but neither took place this year. Instead, the jockeys and horses came out later than planned, once the police felt that it was safe for them to do so. The race started 14 minutes late and got underway at a much faster pace than usually, leading to several heavy falls.
Hill Sixteen fell at the first and later died. Dark Raven had died after falling earlier in the day, whilst Envoye Special died on Thursday, which is the first day of the Grand National meeting that takes place each year at Aintree.
Speaking after the race, the Chief Executive Officer of the British Horseracing Authority, Julie Harrington, said, “The BHA and Aintree racecourse will now analyse the races in painstaking detail, as is the case every year, to build on our existing data and help us understand what caused these incidents.”
She also pointed out that welfare standards in the sport have improved immeasurably, with deaths in the sport reduced to 0.2% of runners. There was a suggestion from some in the industry that the protest actually contributed to the death of the horses, as well as injuries to others.
Aintree made a statement after the race, saying, “We respect the right to peaceful protest but sincerely hope that Animal Rising reflect on whether their proposed actions are legitimate and responsible. heir actions could endanger the horses they purport to protect, as well as jockeys, officials and themselves. As you would expect, we are working closely with Merseyside Police to ensure we protect the safety and enjoyment of everyone, including all participants, human or equine, at the Grand National.”
It was clear that most to do with horse racing were frustrated at the manner in which the protests affected the horses.
For their part, Animal Rising said, “The deaths throughout the Grand National event this weekend add to a heart-breaking list of horses to have died on racetracks this year.
“Animal Rising was trying to prevent precisely the harm that came to the horses during the race. We have begun a massive conversation about our relationship with animals and nature this weekend, hoping to prevent more harm from coming to these beautiful animals, alongside the billions in our food system. Today marks not the end, but the beginning, of the summer of Animal Rising. We will be defending animals and nature and creating an unignorable national conversation about our relationship to animals and the natural world.”
Corach Rambler Gives Russell & Fox Second Win
Whilst the news of Hill Sixteen’s death was sad for everyone associated with racing to hear about, the Grand National was won by Corach Rambler. That presented trainer Lucinda Russell and jockey Derek Fox with their second win in the ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’. Given the fact that £500,000 of the £1 million on offer went to the winner, it was not an insignificant victory in their careers.
It was a superb ride from Fox, who nearly wasn’t on the horse for the race. Having suffered a fall a week or so prior, hurting his shoulder before being given the all-clear to ride.
Fox himself wanted to ride Ahoy Senor in the Mildmay Chase on the Thursday, but it was decided that Corach Rambler had a good chance for the National and so Fox sat that race out in order to keep himself as fit as possible for the big one. In the end, Ahoy Senor finished second to Shiskin, whilst Fox’s relationship with Corach Rambler might well have led to the horse’s excellent performance in the feature race of the week. For Russell, it was a personal success, having already trained the winning horse when One For Arthur won the race in 2017, again with Fox riding.
Referring to Peter Scudamore working with the horse, she said, “Scu does a lot of work with this horse so it’s very important for us that its safe and he jumps well. He just loved the fences, he loved everything about it. It’s very personal this one. I’ll always remember One For Arthur but this is very special.”
When he jumped into the lead over the last fence, it looked as if there was only going to be one winner. There was a late resurgence from Vanillier, but it wasn’t enough to be able to close the sizeable gap that Corach Rambler had opened up heading towards the finish line.
When he was asked about the win after the race, Fox said, “I can’t believe it, to be honest. He’s a phenomenal horse and he’s been so lucky for me. It’s a blessing that I ever got the leg up on him on that first day. He normally gets held up a wee bit but today he just jumped out and travelled everywhere so, I just let him bowl away. He’s electric to jump, the cleverest horse. He’s so intelligent. My only concern would be if he was in front for too long but that wasn’t the case. I was just doing the steering, to be honest.”
A Winning Syndicate
A part of the story around the Grand National win for Corach Rambler is the fact that the horse is owned by a syndicate. Syndicates are designed to give people from all walks of life a change to take part in horse racing ownership, with one of the members of the group that own Corach Rambler being university student Cameron Sword. The 21-year-old bought a stake in the horse for £3,700, which seems cheap when compared to the £500,000 that the horse won as a result of coming first in the ‘World’s Greatest Steeplechase’ as Aintree this year.
The pre-race favourite will have resulted in the bookmakers taking something of a kicking, albeit not as badly as during other races given the nature of the National as a race. The win takes the total prize money won by Corach Rambler up to £690,000, with most of that money coming at Aintree. When Corach Rambler was returned to Scotland to go back to his stables in Perthshire, Sword was one of the hundreds of people there to welcome him back. Unlike most of those present, though, the student was welcomed into the stables for a celebratory drink.
Speaking after the race he said, “I’m well aware it’s never going to be like this again. We’re just trying to soak it all up. Everyone in the syndicate is a normal guy and we’ve won the National. We’re friends for life now. How do you top it? You can’t.”
He is the youngest owner of a National winner, taking over from 23-year-old Bryan Burrough’s record, which has stood since Corbiere won the event in 1983. Not many students can afford £3,700 to invest in a horse, of course, but Sword has no gone down in history before returning to his studies at Heriot-Watt University.
