Undercover police to patrol Grand National despite animal activist peace pledge
Undercover police officers will be mingling among racegoers at this year’s Grand National despite an undertaking from animal rights campaigners not to disrupt the world-famous steeplechase.
Activists from the Animal Rising group, who delayed the start of last year’s Grand National by nearly 15 minutes after more than 100 people invaded the Aintree racecourse, have said they will not stage further protests this year after claiming they had secured a shift in public opinion against horse racing.
Instead, the protest group, which seeks an outright ban on the so-called sport of kings, this weekend condemned new safety measures put in place to protect horses running the showpiece four-mile race as a “PR exercise” and warned of the potential for fatalities among this year’s Grand National runners.
Police and organisers of the race nonetheless made it clear that security at the Aintree meeting will remain tight, with both uniformed and plainclothes officers deployed at the three-day racing festival attended by some 150,000 people. Racegoers have been told to allow time for security checks and bag searches while specialist undercover officers will be patrolling to spot “tell-tale signs that someone may have criminal intent”.
The Jockey Club told i that it had “no specific intelligence” that Animal Rising or any other protest group will seek to disrupt the race.
Merseyside Police said it was determined to ensure that this year’s Grand National will be “memorable for all the right reasons”.
Superintendent Matthew Moscrop, the officer overseeing policing for the race, said: “There are a number of plans in place to deal with any incidents that may arise and to prevent any significant or ongoing disruption to spectators and local residents and businesses.”
This year’s Grand National will take place with a number of modifications designed to improve safety for horses after five fell at the first fence in the 2023 race.
One of those five, Hill Sixteen, had to be destroyed after breaking its neck in the fall – a tragedy which its owner suggested was the result of the horse becoming “hyper” during delays caused by protests.
Among the new measures are a decision to move the first fence closer to the start, thereby reducing the speed at which the horses will reach the obstacle, and a reduced field of 34 rather than 40 runners. The race will also be run from a standing start and take place 75 minutes earlier in an attempt to provide the runners with softer ground.
But in a letter sent this week to the Jockey Club, Animal Rising criticised the changes as cosmetic while reiterating its intention to not protest this year.
The letter from the campaign group said: “Animal Rising’s actions last year shone a spotlight on the deaths that happen during the Grand National Festival. This light continues to shine and we don’t believe disruption is needed to draw attention to this again.
“Horses have died almost every single year at the Grand National… This continues to be the case in spite of rule changes, which are nothing more than a PR exercise to try to win back public opinion.”
According to official statistics, there have been 16 fatalities in the Grand National since 2000. The rate of serious or fatal injuries across all horseracing in Britain is 0.2 per cent.
The Jockey Club said the changes put in place for this year’s Grand National, which will be watched by some 14m people via live television and online streaming, followed a comprehensive annual review of safety at the race.
A spokesperson said: “The welfare of all our participants will always be our number one priority and over the past 20 years the sport has invested more than £47 million in equine welfare. As a result, horseracing today is safer than it has ever been.
“The changes that we have announced are data driven and the result of a detailed assessment of recent Grand Nationals and the analysis of trends and statistics relating to the race over many years.”
