Me and Mrs Jones

If you didn't read it, go here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=559221&in_page_id=1770

Just to get this clear, usually I am quite a placid fellow; I enjoy golf and sometimes partake in walking activities but when I read this article, man was I infuriated.
Liz Jones went to Aintree to watch the Grand National. Firstly, she must have done a quick survey, seen that most people (10 at most) around her were drinking alcohol and thus deduced that 100% of the 70,000 spectators at the racecourse were ‘barely conscious’. Having discovered this, she then heroically fights her way to the bar and asks for some water. (WATER?).
Following this, Jones adds to her secret agent credidentials by saying she was ‘closely watched throughout the day’ by Merseyside Police because she was believed to be an animal activist. She was probably watched because she looked suspicious, like some sort of bomber, with her dark clothes, lack of make up and dull expression.
Then she continues by explaining that the 25 horses who didn’t complete the National all fell, ‘turning cartwheels, crashing onto its neck’. Hang on deary, if you actually look at the results, you will find that of the 25 who didn’t complete the course, 11 fell, 8 unseated the rider and 6 were pulled up.
Then, the horse that the article hangs on, McKelvey is described. Jones says that after unseating his rider, the horse reared over and broke his back. Where did she get this information from? All sources have said that the horse ran into a post. This could have happened at any racecourse in the country.
And then Jones whips me into a frenzy by claiming that horse people do not have the animal’s best interests at heart. The horses were born to race, their lives would be meaningless if all they were allowed to do was stay in their stables.
Apparently, ‘thoroughbreds are intelligent animals’ and only follow others when riderless because they are ‘frightened’. What? If the horses were so clever, they would think ‘mmm, this racing game is rather cruel, I think I’ll go and munch on some grass’. They carry on with the others because they enjoy the thrill of the chase.
Finally, why ask of Simon Earle’s opinion? He has had 14 winners in the last five years, his horses are infamous for slipping over in races because they have no shoes on and to be honest, he is struggling for success.

Well, let us just leave Liz Jones to her vegetarian ways and come and enjoy some racing!