Tom Symonds' diary: no horse is just a number

I recently likened the horses in the yard to a vase of lilies that adorned our hallway. Some are in full bloom, some wilting and some yet to bloom. It has been a long season and a few of the inmates at Dason Court are due a break.

Horses will tell you in many ways, but while one must be realistic about the need to keep a horse going when the weather and ground are so capricious, sods law dictates that as soon as you turn out your soft-ground horse when the ground is firm, the horse will inevitably be standing out in showers of rain.

When arguing with such critics, one must leave aside the fame and significance that a race like the Grand National holds. A horse race is a horse race and just because it holds more significance because of tradition makes it no different from any other race. In this way although criticism flows around Aintree time, it does indeed ebb during most of the year when horses also sadly lose their lives at other race meetings.

What people seem to forget is that no one likes fatalities, and the part that annoys the racing fraternity is that critics also imply that losing a horse doesn’t seem to matter to those around the fallen animal. Thoroughbreds are looked after like kings and, as any owner will confirm, it costs a lot to keep an equine athlete in the lifestyle that it needs to run to the best of his or her abilities.

The “Sport of Kings” is followed by many and criticised by plenty, but this is an industry where the ultimate price to pay is death – equine and human. It is a very high-risk sport and we cannot get away from that. I am not echoing Scott-Holland’s “death is nothing at all”, because it is everything, but the point is that covering up things that occur because people don’t like seeing them is like living in Plato’s cave – thus, a dream world.

I admit there are probably better ways of dealing with fatalities at the races, but saying that fatalities are unacceptable is misguided. Horseracing is a small part of an equine world where millions of pounds funds the thoroughbred to evolve and be cared for, while at the same time there are plenty of other situations where equines – or animals in general – are neglected. Because these are not in the public domain people don’t become suddenly enraged. The Donkey Sanctuary and World Horse Welfare are charities that constantly strive to conquer the ongoing issues with animal cruelty that people aren’t even aware of.

In the National every single one of those 40 horses is cared for and nurtured; they are not simply numbers or statistics. Although not everyone can see it, the camaraderie in horse racing – equine and human alike – is like a river, and at its source is a spring that centres on the love of the horse. As it meanders its way to the delta the strong currents mean the river overcomes obstacles and adjusts to changes – it widens, erodes and floods – but the basic spirit and camaraderie runs very deep and is there right to the very end.

The very admirable gelding Cirrus Des Aigles not only annexed the Sheema Classic but also alerted Europeans that he will not lie down without a fight against those most valuable stallion prospects – he gave us an appetiser of this in the Champion Stakes at Ascot last October. He is also the only Pattern performer that his sire Even Top has ever produced and the only Pattern performer in the first three dams of his pedigree – unique indeed.

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