the virtual & virtuous Grand National.

​The first remark I, and I dare say any member of the near 5-million who tuned in to watch the Virtual Grand National will agree, must make is what a dreadful race the virtual Davy Russell rode on the virtual Tiger Roll. I very much doubt if the virtual Gordon Elliott will ever employ the virtual Davy Russell again for many a long year. What was going on in his virtual head to be in front at halfway on a horse carrying the steadier of 11st 10? No wonder Tiger Roll didn’t get home. I dare say if Davy could go back in time and ride the race again, he probably wouldn’t bother.
If I were Davy Russell, I would consult my lawyers with regard to suing whoever was responsible for creating the algorithm that stopped Tiger Roll from running the same sort of race that was responsible for him winning the previous two renewals of the great race, as well as a Virtual Grand National. As one of the greatest jump jockeys of this or any other century, I would be miffed to kingdom-come and back to have myself represented by such poor judgement.
That said, Potters Corner was a feasible winner of the race, though the ground he made up from the Melling Road to the second-last fence looked suspiciously like he had a hidden motor in his hooves. Of course, come the real thing next year, he’ll no doubt have a stone more on his back, which will make turning the virtual into reality a darn sight harder. But at least now nearly 5-million people know his name, if not the name of his up-and-coming trainer and young jockey, if we can assume Jack Tudor rode enough winners between Cheltenham and Aintree to qualify to ride. That will not be a problem for him next year. A small crumb of comfort I would hope.
I know virtually, which is appropriate, nothing about algorithms or any of the voodoo magic that goes into the production of a virtual anything but you might as well throw dice to decide who falls, pulls-up or doesn’t stay if victory and defeat is to be determined by computerised randomness that has little to do with actual form. Why would Bristol De Mai fall after Valentines, say, and not before? I don’t see where in his form it would suggest he would exit the race where he did. Or why a confirmed front-runner like Yala Enki would not at any point be up with the leaders, even if he did not have the pace and class to be at the pointy-end when it really mattered. Why would O.K.Corral refuse – has he refused in the past?
I know it is only a bit of fun and this year it was staged to raise funds for a good cause and it is proving what a misery I am to criticise the thing but it is all a bit of ‘how-clever-we are’ nonsense, isn’t it? And this year’s creation worries me because of the huge audience it drew. I fear that during this Covid-19 interlude I.T.V. might start filling our Saturday afternoons with ‘all the action’ from Steeple Downs or some other virtual racecourse and non-racing people will get addicted to it and demand more and more non-racing racing.
Actually, if I’m honest, perhaps too honest, I thought the Virtual Grand National was a slap in the face, given there remains no chance the 2020 Actual Grand National being run, despite my letter in the Racing Post asking for anyone who supported my suggestion that the 2020 race be run in November instead of the Becher Chase. My racing year is rendered redundant without a Grand National as its peak. It seems to me that the B.H.A. are simply relieved when a justifiable reason to cancel comes their way. Will the Derby be cancelled this year, do you think? Of course not, they’ll run the race a week before the St.Leger if it comes to it and at Redcar or Hamilton if that is there only option. They will barter with the devil to get Royal Ascot on. But the country’s biggest race by far, and its most popular, a race shown all around the world, the biggest betting race by a country mile? Not a muscle stirs at B.H.A. headquarters, not a phone call is made to any of its many stakeholders. The B.H.A., if truth be told, could not give a toss. It’s almost like they consider by abandoning the race they are dodging a bullet.
At my age, it is a fair possibility that I have watched my last Grand National. If I am to die in the next twelve-months I shall go to my grave not knowing if Tiger Roll has managed to surpass (at least in the records book) the horse who remains the greatest Aintree horse of all-time, a feat I never expected to witness in my lifetime and perhaps now never shall.