BHA pinpoints key objective in ensuring horse welfare standards in spring jump races improve

Ensuring the ground does not get too quick remains the BHA's primary concern when it comes to horse welfare during the spring jumps programme, with director of equine regulation James Given describing the lessons drawn from a number of years of risk modelling as leaving little room for doubt on the significant role the state of the going plays.

Asked during a BHA media briefing about the incidence of racing fatalities over jumps in recent weeks, Given admitted it was a "cause for concern".

He said: "We have been working over the last many years with risk modelling and recognise that there is an increased risk at this time of year depending on environmental conditions.

"It would be higher at this time of the year than say in December, when the ground is typically soft or heavy. We know the risk reduces then. 

"We do see an increase in risk towards the end of the jumps season, typically around April and May, depending on how the conditions have been." 

Patrick Mullins dismounts Nick Rockett after winning the Grand NationalCredit: Edward Whitaker

In 2024 the time of the Grand National start was brought forward to 4pm from 5pm in an effort to stop the ground drying out to an extent that might increase the risk to participants.

Several horses exhibited signs of getting quite hot at the end of this year's race, including the winner Nick Rockett, who was dismounted by Patrick Mullins after the line and was given cooling treatment by on-course vets which meant he did not return to the winner's enclosure.

"It’s not actually the ambient temperature that might drop off at five o’clock as opposed to four o’clock that is the factor," said Given. "The factor is that the ground dries out very quickly at Aintree. Take 2024, when it had been a very wet day on Friday but it dries out so quickly at Aintree that it’s the ground that’s changing more than the environment."

Given also took the opportunity to correct some erroneous reports that Nick Rockett had received an injection of adrenaline in addition to normal cooling procedures.

Willie Mullins and groom Katie Walton with a fully recovered Nick Rockett after his Grand National winCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"It wasn’t adrenaline in the first instance," said Given. "I don’t know exactly what he was given but the common treatments that are given for horses who are suffering from post-race ataxia – that is they get hot – in the first place is extensive cooling with cold water; gallons were thrown over him and then the misting showers.

"It [the injection] will have either been sedation or pain-relief, and they both have the similar effect of relaxing the horse, of calming the horse down."

Acting BHA chief executive Brant Dunshea underlined how conscious both his teams and those at the Jockey Club had been of cooling down the runners as soon as they crossed the line at the end of the National

"Nick Rockett wasn’t the only one who got warm after the race," said Dunshea. "I was standing down between the pull-up area and the start and to me it just highlighted how conscious everyone in and around that area is, focused on the horses’ welfare.

"Gavin Sheehan was outstanding, the way he jumped off, walking his horse [Hewick] backwards and forwards, keeping him moving while people were throwing gallons of water over him. That behaviour of our people, to care for the horses and know what to do, was great to watch." 

Celebre D'Allen was also treated for signs of heat stress when pulled up after jumping the last and died three days after the race, though he had fully recovered from the issues he had initially faced post race, succumbing eventually to a lung infection.

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