LAST year’s winner Macdermott was one of two fatalities in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr on Saturday.
Sent off at 16-1 in his bid to repeat his win of 12 months ago, the Willie Mullins-trained Macdermott was once again ridden by Danny Mullins, but was pulled up sharply before the 10th fence.
In what was an incident-packed race with only eight finishers from 23 runners, Nigel Twiston-Davies’ The Kniphand fell at the second-last and like Macdermott (below, front left) suffered a fatal injury.
While all the jockeys in the four-mile marathon were essentially unscathed, Harry Atkins, the rider of Snipe who came down at the seventh, was stood down having been knocked unconscious.
Clerk of the course Graeme Anderson said: “All the jockeys are OK.
“Harry Atkins was stood down because he was knocked out but everybody else is up and OK.
“Unfortunately there were two equine fatalities, The Kniphand and Macdermott.”
Rose Patterson of Animal Rising, who was arrested in 2023 for her attempts to bring the Epsom horse races to a halt, described the race as "carnage".
She said: “This race was nothing short of carnage. The sheer number of horses falling, injured or violently whipped was shocking - this is inexcusable. Over the last week, the racing industry has exposed its grim reality to the viewing public. This cruelty won’t end until racing is halted for good.
“We cannot call ourselves a nation of animal lovers while turning a blind eye to the violence of racing. This industry exploits horses for profit, masking cruelty behind tradition. Until no more horses die for sport, we will keep demanding change.”
Campaigners from Animal Rising were arrested in 2023 after entering the racetrack at Ayr, just a few hours after the death of horse Oscar Elite. The group had attempted to enter the tracks earlier to put the races to a halt to avoid any horse deaths.
There was also one equine fatality at the 2025 Grand National. Celebre d'Allen, a 13-year-old horse, collapsed after jumping the final fence during the race on April 5.
Despite initial signs of recovery, he developed a severe bacterial lung infection that progressed to sepsis, leading to his death two days later.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) suspended his jockey, Micheal Nolan, for ten days for continuing to ride when the horse appeared visibly exhausted.
