This piece of mine appears in the First Post.
And they're off! Or at least they will be at 4.15pm tomorrow when the 164th running of the Grand National, the world's most famous steeplechase, takes place at Aintree. Forty horses and jockeys will line up before the starter, all in search of the £521,000 first prize.
Picking a winner to your money is a daunting task, but a few rules can help weed out the realistic contenders from the also-rans.
You can read my horse-by-horse assessment of tomorrow’s 40 runners here.
Good luck with your selections!
6 comments:
Fantastic article darling!!
Cheers Neil,had a read of that and stuck £5 e-W on Ballabriggs,got £97.50 back,happy days!!
Strange indeed,anti war but pro- horse racing.Horse racing is a cruel sport and a blatant exploitation of animals for profit.I am not too sure if you profess to be a socialist but by supporting and promoting horse racing in the UK you give credence to what is effectively the class system in miniscule.
There are few places that illustrate the class system in britain better that the horse racing setup.The stinking rich are the racehorse owners,their well paid lackies are the trainers,the workers are the stable staff and the poor sods stuck in bookmaking establishment all day long.
And just like the stock exchange in the capitalist world which is festooned with unproductive parasites,we then have the racing counterpart...bookmakers,racing journalists,and the tipsters.
Another important aspect of horse racing that I would find hard to reconcile as a socialist is the Arab involvement.Some of the biggest owners of horseflesh are the Arabs,or should I say the arab elite,who don't bat an eyelid at spending billions on horseflesh whilst ruling over countries that have no basic human rights,and lack even a basic health system.
I hope you can comment on some of these observations.
Kind Regards
Jim
Ah, well, you see, Neil is what I call a Daily Mail Socialist - i.e. of the Left only in the most straightforward economic sense, not on any deeper cultural level.
Ah, well, you see, Neil is what I call a Daily Mail Socialist - i.e. of the Left only in the most straightforward economic sense, not on any deeper cultural level.
(Apologies if this appears twice.)
Yahoorsur- great stuff. Pleased you sided with Ballabriggs.
Jim- I don't agree that horse racing is a cruel sport. Badger baiting is a cruel sport, bull-fighting is a cruel sport. But horse-racing? Yes, there are issues within the sport that can be looked at in terms of improving safety, but overall, I think if we're concerned about animal cruelty, we're better off focusing on things such as factory farming.
best w, Neil
Robin, I know you are a horse-racing, and in particular, jump racing enthusiast too- does that
make you a 'Daily Mail socialist' too? Question: Can you explain what being on the left on a 'deeper cultural level' means? You talk about me being on the left in 'only' an economic sense-as if public ownership, progressive taxation and
having a mixed economy were relatively unimportant.
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