Animal Rising, the animal rights group that staged a high-profile attempt to stop the Grand National taking place 12 months ago, will confirm on Friday morning that it will not target this year’s race at Aintree next weekend and that it is suspending its campaign of direct action against racing indefinitely.
Last year’s National was delayed by 15 minutes after a group of Animal Rising’s supporters attempted to scale a perimeter fence and glue themselves to one of Aintree’s famous obstacles. The protesters were among 118 individuals arrested by Merseyside Police on the day of the race, in which Sandy Thomson’s gelding Hill Sixteen suffered a fatal injury at the first fence.
Animal Rising staged a further protest at Epsom on Derby day in early June, when Ben Newman, one of the group’s founders, ran on to the track shortly after the start of the Classic, but was removed by security personnel before the field had reached the home straight. Newman subsequently received a suspended prison sentence for breaching an injunction that had been granted to the Jockey Club, which owns Epsom, in May, to prevent disruption at the meeting.
The group abandoned plans to attempt to disrupt Royal Ascot in mid-June, however, and Nathan McGovern, a spokesperson for Animal Rising, said on Thursday that this year’s Grand National will not be a target.
“We won’t be there,” McGovern said, “and the reason for that is that as far as we can see, last year there was a huge public conversation on the back of the Grand National, Epsom et cetera, and it would appear that the public have in large part been convinced that they don’t want racing to be part of the fabric of British culture going forward.
“If we look at the trend in dropping attendances at the races, that’s downwards year-on-year, and beyond that, there are also public surveys and polling. YouGov’s current figures on horse racing are around a 47% disapproval rating and only a 23% approval rating, and those numbers speak for themselves.”
The maximum field for this year’s Grand National has been reduced from 40 runners to 34, and the start has been moved closer to the first fence in an attempt to limit the speed of horses in the early part of the race. The off-time has also been moved, from 5.15pm to 4pm.
The changes were introduced at least in part as a response to Hill Sixteen’s fatal injury, after which Thomson suggested that his horse had become “absolutey hyper” during the delay to the start, which could have contributed to his fall.
“We think this is trying to offload the blame,” McGovern said. “We empathise with Sandy Thomson’s grief, and we’ve always maintained that the vast majority of people in horse racing genuinely love their animals, but this is a sport that puts animals knowingly in harm’s way.”
Animal Rising’s direct campaign against racing, however, may now be a thing of the past. “Never say never,” McGovern said. “But is disrupting races going to be the most effective way to end horse racing? We think not, because we think the public has already made that decision for themselves.”
