Mike Dillon: Activists ignore Aintree carnage

Where are those Victorian animal rights activists when you need them?

They've nearly brought jumps racing in Melbourne to its knees when the only thing wrong with it was what the activists caused themselves.

And when they run the race that often borders on cruelty - the English Grand National - they're nowhere to be seen.

The hurdles and steeplechase fences in Melbourne have traditionally been too small.

Several years ago the activists, in their ignorance, forced racing to reduce them further, rendering them death traps because horses gave them so little respect and were asked to gallop through them at such speed that they became dangerous.

Without even the slightest concession to the fact they exacerbated the problem themselves, the placard wavers are close to having jumps racing banned across the Tasman.

They should be standing outside Aintree.

I am a supporter of jumps racing even though it's not my greatest racing passion, and the Great Northern Steeplechase at Ellerslie is in my top three events of the racing year.

But true horse fans cannot justify Aintree's Grand National - the fences and the 7200m trip are simply far too testing.

There will be some crowing this time because only one horse died - Hear The Echo collapsed shortly after finishing the race.

Another, Butlers Cabin, had to be given oxygen to keep it alive.

Even the commentators were excited late in the race when there were a dozen horses still in contention with a couple of fences to go, a rare sight at Aintree.

But the harsh facts are that only 17 of the 40 starters finished this year's race.

That's well up on last year, but it means around 58 per cent of the runners either fell or were pulled out of the race injured or exhausted.

The Cheltenham carnival is where the real action is for jumping enthusiasts in the UK.

Aintree's Grand National is so steeped in history as an iconic event that in many ways it eclipses the Derby.

But does it really need to be so gladiatorial to retain that mystique?

Surely not.