Animal rights activists are refusing to back down from plans to disrupt Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree, despite warnings over safety.
Campaign group Animal Rising say they remain determined to stop the 175th running of the world’s most famous horse race in a bid to highlight what it calls a “broken relationship with animals and the natural world”.
The group’s plans to break onto the course and glue themselves to fences were exposed by an undercover Mail On Sunday reporter last month and authorities have promised a “robust policing plan” is in place to stop demonstrators making it onto the track before or during the race. However, appearing in a debate on TalkTV on Thursday night, Animal Rising spokesman Alex Lockwood insisted organisers of the protest remain unperturbed.
"We’re going down to Aintree and asking people to join us in front of the gates from 9:30am,” he said. “We’re going to be there all day, we’re going to be protesting and we’re going to try to disrupt the race. We’re doing that to bring attention to the fact that we’ve got a broken relationship with animals and the natural world.”
Major changes have been made to the Aintree steeplechase since the turn of the century in a bid to reduce risk and there have been only four fatalities from 356 runners since the most significant recent adjustments were made in 2012.
However, two horses - Eclair Surf and Discorama - were killed in last year’s renewal, while the Keiran Burke-trained Envoye Special suffered a fatal injury on the opening day of this year’s meeting on Thursday.
A full field of 40 runners are set to go to post in Saturday’s showpiece, with long-time market leader Corach Rambler a slight drifter in the betting overnight to be left vying for favouritism with the Gordon Elliott-trained Delta Work, who finished third in last year’s race.
Aintree chiefs made the decision to water all three courses after racing on Thursday in a bid to ensure good-to-soft ground, with drying winds and sunny conditions providing a challenge for clerk of the course Sulekha Varma.
“By the end of the afternoon jockeys were reporting that it was riding close to good ground,” she said. “We are therefore going to put between 4mm and 5mm of water everywhere tonight.”
Meanwhile, trainer Nicky Henderson is planning to school unbeaten hurdler Constitution Hill over fences before putting the horse away for his summer break, as racing eagerly awaits news of future plans for its latest superstar.
Constitution Hill backed up his Champion Hurdle victory at Cheltenham with a seventh-straight win under rules as he cruised to a three-length success in Thursday’s Aintree Hurdle, making light work of stepping up to two-and-a-half miles.
“You can do anything you like with him,” Henderson said. “We'll probably school him before we put him to bed [for the summer], just so we know what we are talking about. But I honestly don't know right now what we'll do."
