Sarstaff - I thing someone might have won..........it was a race after all LOL

You know I was dead chuffed when AP McCoy was blocked in his run, he has such a big head and a bad attitude, I didn't mind one bit!
Dawn.

I didn't watch it so took the info from the BBC site

Anyone who quotes the number of horses who have died at Aintree are including races other than the National & on other days racing. It's sad I know but the horses are bred to run & jump & can die in a stable or in a paddock. An ex neighbour of mine paid mega bucks for a dutch warm blood stallion, he died three days after she got him & they never found a cause !

& the whips the jockeys now use are nothing like an ordinary riding crop(so I am told by an ex jockey who I know) & many jump jockeys use them a lot less that the flat jockeys who have more money at stake in races from their cut of the winnings

Hedgehunter looked really well afterwards I'm not McCoys biggest fan although I admire all the jump jockeys for their bravery, especially on some of the horses that they have to ride outside of the National. Landing on the posts :O ooooooh painful

If memory serves me right horses have to qualify to get into the National & there were some quality horses in there this year

I won a tenner yipee,  kids got to pick one and they picked Astonville

I thought Hedgehunter looked fanastically well following that race. What a lovely horse he is.

My Dad won £35 for backing the winner and he also backed one that fell.
I was routing for Carrie it would have been a fairytale ending.
Bet hey the horse that won was lovely and the stable lass well she was so proud.

Hats off to all the jockeys, they are brave men & woman, and Ruby Walsh really looked like he enjoys
his 'job'. I thought the piece that Clare Balding did on BBC2 last night was really good with
some of the leading jockeys and their families.

He is a nice bloke There are quite a few racing stables near me & a flat racecourse & a couple of years ago whilst we were having our dog show someone turned up to school a young grey national hunt horse on the racecourse. He was huge & so well mannered(the horse that is) it was 7.00 in the morning & the trainer & head lad had to wait for the jockey to turn up for a few minutes & when he did he was a bit confused as there were quite a lot of cars & dogs around + the campers He came into the building we use for a canteen & very politely asked if anyone had seen a trainer & horse & I sent him off in the right directiton. When they had finiehed the schooling they took the horse off to cool down then popped back to apologize for interupting us & accepted a cup of coffee & bacon butties I pulled the jockeys leg about his weight & when he replied it was his off season for racing I realized it was Ruby Walsh ! I have followed his results ever since. LOL I'll be sending him a congrats card via the trainer, they took the horse off afterwards & the trainer stayed to watch the dogs working for a while, I think he was quite impressed !

Great race.  Between them my 3 boys picked 1st, 3rd and 4th - and we didn't get round to putting the bets on!!!!  Would never of happened if we had gone to the bookies!

WOW lucky woman :)
Nearest racing course is Newbury, Ascot or Windsor for me.
But they do have gallops up on the downs which isn't too far away.

I love horses but sadly could never afford to keep one, used to ride as a youngster
and had to give it up because my parents couldn't afford the lessons.
Even got to jumping before having to give up. Although a friend used to have her own pony
and rode in the Prince Phillip cup on one called Tuppence a flea bitten grey.
I even got to ride him in a consolation race and got 2nd at a gymkana, I still have that rosette.

Used to see a TB that was liver chesnut, blaze and 4 white socks ridden through our village.
I used to dream of owning that thorse it was so beautiful............sigh.
As I'm only a short person used to dream of becoming a jockey after watching National Velvet..
But then as I grew older loved my food too much, LOL.

Used to have a reputation of watching horse racing on TV as a child, used to watch
the horses in the paddock and as they went down to the start line, I'd often pick the winner
my dad used to get really annoyed with me as he would have made so much money LOL.
Still didn't get to watch enough of the pre race paddock & down to the start to pick my winner
yesterday :)

Suppose that why I like watching dogs move at shows so much too, old habit die hard.
:)
Kirstine