Sandy Thomson adamant protests contributed to fatal fall of Hill Sixteen

‘People can turn round and say that’s a load of rubbish, but it’s not a load of rubbish’.

Sandy Thomson has reiterated his stance against animal rights activists who disrupted the 175th running of the Grand National on Saturday, and urged the authorities to take “a much firmer stance”.

Hill Sixteen, trained by the Berwickshire handler, suffered a fatal injury after falling at the first fence in a race that was delayed by almost 15 minutes after protestors got on to the Aintree course and attempted to secure themselves to railings and fences.

The 10-year-old had never fallen in his 26-race career and Thomson felt the delays and the rushed preparation caused by the protestors were a major reason for the race’s total of three fallers, along with five unseated jockeys, over the first two fences.

“I read somewhere that it has been nine years since the fences have been modified and there had been an average of two fallers at the first two fences in those nine years, and yesterday there were eight,” said Thomson.

“I think horses got very wound up and, oddly, not having a parade didn’t help the situation. The jockeys get on the horse and then they have got to parade before going on to the course, to settle them down.

“It is nobody’s fault, everyone was desperate to get the race off and the jockeys were just told to line up and then told not to line up.”

Hill Sixteen had previously raced over the National fences twice, finishing second in the 2021 Becher Chase and seventh in this season’s running of the same race.

Having been walked in the parade ring with a red hood, along with others he was taken back to the pre-parade ring as the authorities attempted to quell the protests.

“We took Hill Sixteen back to the stable and took his saddle off, because we had no idea what was going to happen,” added Thomson.

“We put some water on him to rehydrate him a bit, because it was a warm day. Then suddenly it was all a bit of a rush.

“Ted Walsh was beside us and his horse (Any Second Now) had top weight, so he’d taken the saddle off. He said, ‘Listen, they’re not going to go without us’.

“Everybody was quite hyper and it doesn’t help the horse at all. People can turn round and say that’s a load of rubbish, but it’s not a load of rubbish.

“That’s why we have red hoods, blinkers and cheekpieces and things, just to help keep them in the best frame of mind possible.”

In the aftermath of the fatal fall, Thomson was adamant that much of the blame lay with the protestors, and his view has not changed.

He added: “I stand by what I say, they are totally ignorant about anything to do with horses.

Sandy Thomson slammed the animal rights protests
Sandy Thomson slammed the animal rights protests (John Giles/PA)

“We are getting fed up in this country and somebody’s got to start doing something about these people.

“Most people are going about their lawful business and you get them (protestors) lying on roads and things. We’ve got to take a much firmer stance.

“Unfortunately, with social media and things, it is far too easy for somebody to start a thread up and all these people jump on the bandwagon.

“The other thing, and this is what the MPs have got to work out – you keep hearing that half their mailbag is to do with animal welfare.

“Well, if they really want to deal with animal welfare, they need to sort out where there is real cruelty and the RSPCA will tell you where it is, but they don’t want to hear it – they don’t want to be educated.

Protesters were detained by police at Aintree
Protesters were detained by police at Aintree (Tim Goode/PA)

“Peaceful protest is fine, nobody has a problem with that, but you should not be able to go out and ruin other people’s entertainment. They have no welfare of horses at heart.

“The BHA are in a very difficult situation and I do believe that we in racing, or field sports, or whatever, have to be pro-active.

“I know it is very difficult, because the people who know don’t want to get involved. They are trying their best, but it is a desperately difficult thing to get across, all the welfare checks that are done.

“We have vetting stages, the horses have to be trotted up twice by our vet and the video is sent in, records of any medication all have to be recorded. It doesn’t make headlines and that goes to the complete issue of the thing – education.”

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