I'm feeling a deep sense of loss over the Grand National - and I know many of you feel the same

A sense of loss. That's something I've been coming to terms with this week after Saturday's sanitised Grand National, and I can tell from the Racing Post mailbag that many of our readers feel similarly bereft.

On Monday, in my email newsletter The Front Runner, I felt moved to point out that the National was obviously not the same race that had awed so many of us for so long. Many readers emailed back in response, while others have flooded the editor's inbox with their thoughts.

"What I bemoan is not the race we watched," wrote Keith Knight from Devon, "but the loss of everything that has made the race legendary, unique and inspiring and the supreme test of the steeplechaser and riders. If you want to understand my feelings on this issue, recall the time you lost the love of your life."