Your point is well taken, and one I hadn’t given much thought to, honestly.
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100% I get it.
It sounds like a bad system all around if that much is at stake in a race where horses frequently die. "Wagering can’t exist if … " So no wagering if we don’t take a risk on sacrificing horses to horrific injuries in the Grand National.
Ok. Since it is such an all-or-nothing question, let’s just dispense with the entire mess. No more Grand National. If you think that losing the Grand National means ‘no more racing’, that’s fine, whatever. Whatever else world system has to collapse along with all these horseshoe nails in this domino progression you proclaim, ok, let 'em go. That’s alright with me.
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2019 Santa Anita 42 horses died on the track
Many tracks in North America report here, with much more current data.
https://jockeyclub.com/default.asp?section=Advocacy&area=10
North American thoroughbred flat racing is very different than flat and jump racing in the UK, Ireland, and Europe.
For starters, nowhere in the UK or England has a dirt racing surface like we have in North America.
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A lot of changes were implemented in Santa Anita because of those breakdowns, many of which occured during training, not racing.
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An interesting contention. These horses are bred for sport. That’s their sole reason for existing. Would we breed them without sport? Would that be OK?
Should we breed them for meat instead? What’s the difference?
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This isn’t the Current Events forum - this is a needless and hollowjab you threw in for no reason that is in no way pertinent to this Grand National discussion. Sorry you don’t believe in human rights.
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That’s a good point.
and that point would be either way horses die
This is a ridiculous comparison as a whole. Let’s change it a little to actually make it pertinent.
You have a mare that you know struggles to foal without severe complications that threaten her life, yet you continue to breed her year after year. Continuing to breed her is flat-out bad horsemanship - yep, we agree on that.
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Nope. Breeding and racing go hand in hand. Most race horses race their entire careers without dying. Most mares in the breeding shed foal every year without dying. You won’t have racing without breeding and racing is partially driven by the prospects of owning a successful stallion or mare.
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We aren’t talking about “racing” generally. We are talking about the Grand National, the title of the thread.
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Did you read the thread? American flat racing was brought into the discussion.
Did I comment on any of that? No, and the post you were responding to said “Racing will survive with or without the Grand National”.
Umhmm, and did you look at the full context of that discussion and what it responded to? 
The entire post was about a horse scratching from the grand national. The one you were directly responding to. The one right above yours. The race my comments were about. The topic of this thread.
You making an example based on the broad case of racing as a whole without specifying that is not my problem. You were replying to someone who was talking about the Grand National, specifically. Not racing as an entirety - they were talking about not running the GN anymore.
You making a crappy example, period, is also not my problem.
Barbaro
Ruffian
Eight Bells
Black Gold
That’s right off the top of my head. I imagine you can find a longer list online.
I wonder now how drugging compares between the two types of races. …
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That would be interesting too.
It’s not really meaningful to compare the number of horses that die in all the flat races in the US to the number of horses that die in a single specific timber race.
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The UK has extremely tight rules to prevent drugging of race horses. They run on “hay and water”. The overwhelming majority of participants in racing support these rules. Those that are found to cheat face tough sanctions, up to the termination of their racing career if “warned off” for life. Trainers can not use medications to hide injuries and unsoundness. They obviously can use them to treat problems but the horse is then off games and it will be drug tested before being allowed back on the racecourse. The training yards, which are dispersed over the country and horses travel in to the race courses, are subject to both regular and surprise inspection by the Horse Racing Authority to ensure welfare of staff and horses. However, probably the majority of drug infringements are caught because of “intelligence”, which possibly shows the general disapproval of drugs in racing.
The UK also has declining numbers of horses injured or killed during racing. The information is regularly published by the British Horse Racing Authority and is available online. The figures are consistently lower than in the USA. There is constant review of safety issues across racing and many steps are taken to ensure horses, jockeys, stable staff and spectators are as safe as possible in what is recognized to be a high risk sport. Horse racing is a significant industry as well as a passion for many.
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