Grand National-winning trainer Ted Walsh has called changes to the world famous race “another step in the abolition of jump racing”.
The 73-year-old trained Papillon to win the historic race at Aintree in 2000, when he was ridden by his son Ruby, who has endorsed the changes which include a cut to the maximum number of horses allowed to run from 40 to 34 from 2024 which the Jockey Club said is designed to reduce fallers and the risk of incident.
But they have not been welcomed by Walsh Sr, who previously rode over the fences as an accomplished amateur rider.
He claimed the measures would only serve to ‘appease’ animal rights groups, like Animal Rising who tried to stop the race in April.
“It’s only a continuation of what’s been happening in England for 20 years because the animal welfare groups and antis to racing are just gathering more momentum and the English Jockey Club are just slowly giving in and are on the back foot,” he told Sky Sports Racing.
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“They have to try and appease those people in order for a race like the National to continue. It is what it is. This is only another step in the abolition of jump racing as we knew it.”
In the first significant changes in ten years, the Jockey Club also announced that the first fence, where Hill Sixteen was fatally injured in April, will be moved 60 yards nearer to the start with the aim it will be approached by the runners at a slower speed.
Ruby Walsh riding Papillon celebrates after victory in the 2000 Grand National 2000 (Ross Kinnaird/ALLSPORT)Walsh said he found the Grand National less appealing than in the past.
“When I was growing up it was an achievement to get a ride in the National and a bigger achievement if you completed the National,” he said.
“Now it’s not difficult. If you’re any kind of a reasonable jockey, you’ll probably get a ride in the National and if your horse is anyway adaptable to jumping, he'll get around.
“It used to be a bit special. It was exciting and that was part of its great attraction. All around the world the National was a famous race. Other jurisdictions tried to copy it by calling certain races their ‘National’.
“They all took their name from the great race it was, the English National. It’s no longer that elusive sort of a race that it was then.
“Like many things in the world things have changed and racing has to change with it otherwise it becomes extinct.”
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