head of equine regulation, a little matter of £500,000 & can dan be the man this time around?

​No doubt over the course of the next three-days at Aintree an I.T.V. presenter will assure viewers how important equine welfare is to the sport. Viewers will be informed of how many vets will be in attendance and how each horse is inspected on the morning to ensure they are fit to compete, sort of implying either that some trainers are prepared to run an unfit horse or some are without the expertise to notice if one of their horses is lame, coughing or under the weather. And then there are the troughs of water and the buckets of water that will be thrown over the winner of the Aintree National, demonstrating the commitment the sport has to horse welfare. It is all done in the best possible taste, though it does beg the question why the procedures at Aintree are not mandatory at every race-meeting.
Incidentally, the throwing of water over a horse’s kidneys and hind quarters is, to my way of thinking, more likely to be detrimental on some occasions to the health of the horse through winter, than beneficial. Chilled kidneys is a very real thing, it is why horses wear quarter-sheets in the parade ring and why Venetia Williams uses that clip-trace on all of her horses.
Anyhow. In today’s Racing Post there is a splendid article by Sally Taylor, head of equine regulation, safety and welfare at the B.H.A. highlighting the breakthroughs in the early discovery of injury and heart conditions with the use of A.I.. Using Swedish software something referred to as SLEIP is used in pre-race trot-ups and is being trialled on every horse due to run at Aintree this week.
Lameness can change from day-to-day, sometimes by the stride or over a long time-period. Using an App on a phone, vets can detect the very earliest stages of lameness, which can prevent a horse suffering injury during a race. The App also records high quality videos, providing slow-motion views of a horse’s gait which can be used for comparison throughout the life of each horse.
Also, Sally Taylor is particularly excited by the Racing Risk Model Project which uses complicated mathematical models to allow vets to understand where the greatest area of risks may be. There are wearable devises that record heart-rate and rhythm, stride length and conduct E.C.G.’s while the horse is being exercised. There is also a project to understand how tendon boots raise the temperature of the horse’s leg and whether they help or hinder the problem of strike injuries.
This is why the Racing Post is such fabulous read. Sally Taylor’s article was directly under a Richard Forristal piece on the trainers’ championship race in Britain. You never know what lies in store for the reader upon turning each page. More of it, I say.

What must it be like to know you are on the verge of being £500,000 better-off? Only Harry Skelton can tell you and he will be too busy over the next few days ensuring he is the beneficiary of the windfall, or should that be Gale Force Ten-fall? I just hope he makes a generous donation to the Injured Jockeys Fund and to an equine rehabilitation centre.

Can Dan repel the Irish man? I am not so sure 1/10 on reflects the absolute certainty others think him to be. Firstly, I believe Nicky Henderson will win his first National on Saturday and that will take a big chunk out of Skelton’s lead of £800,000. He also has Constitution Hill, Jonbon, Jango Baie and Lulamba this week and at least one of them should win, with the others all likely to pick-up a good chunk of prize-money. Without winning the Aintree National I cannot see how Paul Nicholls can claw his way to the top, though I fully expect Caldwell Potter to win the opener today. Then there the cool hand gunslinger who goes by the name of Willie. Not really interested in retaining his title, yet sending more horses to Aintree than any of his rivals. 1.3-million in arrears, yet with 5 horses in the big race, all of which have realistic chances of galloping and jumping their names into Aintree and horseracing history. Win the Aintree National and 1.3-million becomes £800,000 and with a hatful of winners through the week, perhaps, and with Sandown and Ayr to come – well, he did it last year, though if he pulls the rabbit out of the hat this time, the margin of victory will be a lot less than the £300,000 he triumphed by last year.
That said, Dan Skelton only needs to win one of the Grade 1’s this week to make Willie’s task that bit more difficult. There will a mountain of joy from the master of Lodge Farm if either Grey Dawning or Protektorat win this week. With Protektorat the more likely.