The risk of a 'safer' Grand National - runners are more likely to bunch and create more issues

In some ways, it looked like a throwback Grand National, with eight horses either falling or unseating at the first two fences, a fifth of the field out of the running mere seconds after the start. Within the first mile, there were several instances of horses colliding in a way that would be rare in other steeplechases but has always been a risk in this race.

So it was not the kind of National you had in mind if you were hoping for something that would serve as a riposte to the idiotic, self-indulgent course invaders who delayed the start. Very sadly, we lost Hill Sixteen, who had never previously fallen in his 27-race career.

In another way, it was a relatively new-looking National, with the field grouping towards the inside rail on the initial run to Becher's, rather than spreading right across the track as in the past. Arguably, this is a natural consequence of the fences being easier to jump, the drops on landing being removed or reduced and the quality of the runners having improved.