The Grand National at Aintree is often described as Britain’s most iconic horse race, a spectacle of endurance and national pride. Yet beneath the faux glamour and grubby betting slips lies a brutal reality – the horse racing industry is built on practices that are profoundly unnatural and dangerous to the animals involved, and the Grand National is one of the deadliest races in the world.
Why Horse Racing Is Unnatural
Genetically, horses are prey animals evolved to roam freely, grazing for up to 16 hours a day and moving at their own pace. In racing, they are forced into a life that contradicts their natural instincts. From as early as 18 months, young horses are pushed to their physical limits, even though their skeletons are not fully mature until six to nine years of age. This brutal regime places immense strain on developing bones and joints, leading to fractures, arthritis, and chronic lameness, as well as inflicting immense stress and anxiety on these juvenile horses. In short, the racing industry transforms a grazing herd animal into an unnatural speed machine, with no regard for their wellbeing and stripping them of their very essence – all for human greed.
The Death Toll on British Racetracks
The statistics are stark. According to Animal Aid’s Race Horse Death Watch, more than 3,000 horses have died on UK racecourses since 2007. This means, on average, if a racehorse didn’t die today, it is because one died yesterday, or one will die tomorrow. And the number is increasing. Last year 214 racehorses were killed, representing a 21.6% rise in deaths on the previous year. The horses died from excruciating injuries including broken legs, necks, or heart attacks.
Jump racing is particularly lethal because of the obstacles, distances and physical demands placed on the horses. The appeal of jump racing to race goers lies in its danger – the drama of falls, the uncertainty of survival. In short, the suffering is not incidental but deliberately built into the design of the so-called sport.
The Grand National: Britain’s Most Famous — and Most Controversial — Horse Race
The Grand National is a jump race held every April at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool. First run in 1839, the race is just over four miles and includes 30 obstacles, misleadingly described as ‘jumps.’ The most infamous are Becher’s Brook, notorious for its steep drop on the landing side, The Chair, the tallest fence on the course at 5ft 2” with a 5ft wide ditch on the take-off side, and Canal Turn, which forces horses to make a sharp left turn immediately after landing. Animal welfare groups argue that the event is inherently cruel, designed with risk and spectacle in mind rather than safety. As of 2024, approximately 100 horses have died at the Aintree meeting, and these are not freak accidents – they are the predictable outcomes of forcing horses to clear 30 fences over a gruelling four‑mile course while carrying heavy weights. Some die instantly from broken necks or backs. Others are killed after the race.
Yet despite the harsh and vicious nature of the Grand National, it has somehow established itself as a national tradition amongst a nation of self-proclaimed animal lovers.
The 2023 Animal Rising Protest
It was against this backdrop that Animal Rising staged their dramatic protest at the April 2023 Grand National. Activists picketed the entrance, and the M57 motorway (a major throughfare for racegoers) was temporarily blocked.
For others, the day began 200 miles north of the racecourse where a minivan collected activists for the drive to Aintree. The group used the time to prepare for the day ahead:
“We spoke about our adherence to nonviolent protest, and we made sure everyone was on board with the plan in terms of how we wanted to present ourselves to the public. No screaming or yelling, just remaining as calm as possible and doing what we could to not come off as aggressive. We spoke about how we would facilitate a de-escalation of any situations that appeared like they were going to become potentially volatile” said MM, one of those on-board the minivan.
“As we got closer, we noticed there were a lot of route diversions” continued MM.
The Grand National was due to start at 5:15 but now the minivan found itself stuck at temporary traffic lights.
“The race was due to start at quarter past five, and we wanted to be there – be on the track – with a good chunk of time before the race was due to start. This was for the safety of the horses and jockeys and our own safety. We knew we were up against the clock, so we had a group discussion while we were stopped at the temporary traffic lights – do we get out here and proceed on foot with all the stuff that we’ve got with us? Or do we wait to try and get a little bit closer with the van so it’s less of a walk?”
The decision was made to leave the van and proceed on foot. The group made it to the racecourse perimeter and scaled fences, some attaching themselves to jumps, so as to delay the start of the race. In doing so, they achieved their aim – to stop the event and draw attention to the cruelty at its core.
MM cleared the first fence but was wrestled to the ground by a security official and was subsequently arrested.
SM was also there that day.
“We threw rubber mats over the barbed wire because there’s barbed wire across the tops of the fences. Ladders were placed against the fences, and we climbed over. There was security on the other side, and a security dog as well.”
SM was arrested before they made it onto the track.
“It was quite shocking to see the extent to which the security was willing to go to simply protect the [Grand National] race. I got arrested on the way towards the second fence. I was put in a painful restraint position, even though I had gone completely passive. I kept telling them ‘I’m nonviolent, I’m peaceful, I’m not going to resist’ but it didn’t stop them from being overly aggressive.”
A total of 118 activists were arrested in connection to the day’s actions, with roughly half being charged. The rest were either de-arrested or released with no further investigation.
MM and SM were charged with causing a public nuisance. Their trial was scheduled for 1st September 2025.
Animal Rising’s Aintree action generated over 3,000 press mentions and began a much needed, and crucially, more informed national debate.
By the end of the 2023 Grand National Festival four horses had died: Hill Sixteen (aged 10), Envoye Special (aged 9), Dark Raven (aged 6), and Hullnback (aged 6).
A Protest That Spoke the Truth
Horse racing is often portrayed as a glamorous sport, but for the animals forced to take part it is a life of servitude, exploitation, pain, and premature death. Far from being a celebration of the horse, racing is an industry that treats them as disposable commodities, existing primarily to fuel the multi‑billion‑pound betting market.
They are fitted with restrictive bits and blinkers, whipped to run faster, and pushed far beyond their natural limits. Veterinary studies show that many racehorses suffer bleeding lungs, gastric ulcers, and stress‑related conditions as a direct result of this unnatural regime.
On race days, the cruelty intensifies. Horses are whipped into running at breakneck speeds, often carrying heavy weights, and in jump racing they must clear large fences at full gallop. Falls are common, and broken legs, necks, and backs are frequent outcomes. Because equine fractures are rarely repairable, many horses are killed on the track or shortly afterwards.
The reality is that horse racing exists not for the welfare of horses, but to sustain the gambling industry. Billions of pounds are wagered annually on races, and the lives of horses are reduced to betting slips and profit margins. When an animal can no longer deliver returns, it is discarded. The spectacle of the Grand National may be sold as tradition, but be under no illusion – at its core it is a scam built on animal exploitation and suffering.
Liverpool Crown Court
MM and SM, along with four others, entered the dock at Liverpool’s crown court on Monday September 1st this year. The trial got off to an unusual start.
“We arrived expecting a morning start only to be told that it was in fact scheduled to begin in the afternoon. We then thought we would get a jury selected by the end of Monday, and the prosecution would open their case Tuesday morning. But due to some legal arguments, it took a bit longer than that. We didn’t get the jury sworn in until Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday was a scheduled off-day, so we prepared ourselves for the prosecution to open their case Thursday morning. When we arrived on Thursday, we were informed one of the barristers had slipped on the way to work and broken their leg. We were then told the judge was out of the jurisdiction on Friday, so we weren’t going to be sitting on Friday either,” MM told me.
MM continued: “When we arrived on Monday [September 8th] we were told one of the jurors had suffered a heart attack over the weekend”.
Under instructions from the judge, legal teams busily went about releasing jury members, and re-selecting from the jury pool. On Tuesday September 9th the prosecution finally opened their case.
Over the next three weeks the six activists explained their actions. Several legal defences were made, including the principle of ‘reasonable excuse,’ arguing that the scale of horse suffering justified their actions. Their argument was compelling. On Wednesday September 24th a jury of their peers unanimously acquitted them. The verdict was a moral victory for animal rights campaigners.
Horse Racing on Trial
The Grand National is not just a race – it is a symbol of how tradition can blind us to cruelty. Horse racing is unnatural, dangerous and exploitative, with thousands of deaths on British racetracks standing as evidence. The 2023 protest and subsequent court cases forced the public to confront this reality.
Racing kills hundreds of horses every year in Britain alone, with thousands more quietly slaughtered when they are no longer useful. No amount of so-called safety improvements can change the fact that the industry is designed to abuse horses for gambling profits.
The 2023 Animal Rising Aintree action held a mirror up to our values. Do we prize tradition and profit above the lives of animals, or are we willing to evolve, to stop cruel practices in favour of compassion? Last week’s jury verdict is a clear signal – public opinion is shifting, cruelty dressed up as sport no longer sits comfortably with modern ethics.
— © 2025 Sul Nowroz – Real Media staff writer – Insta: @TheAfghanWriter
