The Jockey Club has decided not to apply for an injunction to deter possible incursions on to the Aintree track by animal rights activists at next month’s Grand National meeting. Protests before last year’s Grand National by Animal Rising, which included an attempt by protesters to scale a perimeter fence and glue themselves to one of the track’s obstacles, caused the race to be delayed by 15 minutes.
A total of 118 activists were arrested either before or after last year’s race, in which Sandy Thomson’s Hill Sixteen suffered a fatal injury at the first fence. Thomson subsequently suggested that Hill Sixteen had become “absolutely hyper” during the 15-minute delay, which could have been a contributory factor in his fall.
