The Grand National
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Another big thing from Liverpool (joining The Beatles, the most successful football team LFC and ME).
I’ve just put a load of bets on for me, missus and G-ids.
Does anyone follow, watch or bet on it?Yes. It’s one of the most famous horses races in the world. A 4 mile steeplechase and a horse race that most of the nation have a bet on, even people who don’t normally bother.
It’s a race where favourites can go out the window, more often than not, due to the fences and errant nature of the course and runners.
I won a few bob today from a couple of each way bets.Yes, I had vaguely heard of it, maybe in movies. I know horse racing is a big deal in the UK, but it’s not very big over here, alas. We talked a little bit about the different sports interests in different countries in the sports thread.
Good to hear you won a few bob — they’re being funnelled straight into soundtrack CDs, right?
Sounds more reasonable. 🙂
I doubt there’s a lot of interest for the Grand National or horses here (Tall Guy possibly notwithstanding?), but we could use the opportunity to speak about great horse scores. I’ve always found horses excruciatingly boring. I mean, I accept them as creatures, and as a means of transportation in western films, but never really had any other investment in them. I was once about to date a ‘horse girl’, but was warned by mates that I shouldn’t. They’re very expensive, they said. So I called it off.
But yeah….horse scores. Regardless of my disinterest in the creatures themselves (and the sports that use them), there have been some superb scores for horsie films.
Hamburg is a kind of center of Horse racing actually:
https://www.galopp-hamburg.de/pferderennen/derby-meeting-2026
As a child I even watched that with my parents. Mostly with chariots (are they called that?)
But it’s not really my thing 😉I subscribe to Ian Fleming’s view of horses: Uncomfortable in the middle and damned dangerous at both ends.
Our older daughter did a bit of riding when she was in her early teens but lost enthusiasm for it after a couple of falls.
Horse racing doesn’t feature in my thoughts very often. Forty years ago I’d sometimes take a camera to local point-to-points in rural Northumberland because you could get close to the fences and grab some fantastic shots. I think health & safety has put an end to that. I’ve been to a few race meetings but thankfully haven’t caught the bug.
It can be a brutal sport. Apparently a horse fell at the final fence in one of the Aintree meeting races while in the lead and broke its back. According to the report it staggered to its feet and the jockey whipped it over the finishing line, whereupon it collapsed and had to be “destroyed” as the unhappy parlance goes. When I read about that kind of thing I just want to see the jockey and the owner and the race organisers in prison. But there’s too much money to be made; not least for the government in betting tax.
(Thor)…Yes indeed. John Scott with SHERGAR. Carl Davis’ wonderful music for CHAMPION (which was used yesterday on ITV to underscore the horse/jockey line-up). BLACK BEAUTY by Danny Elfman. SYLVESTER by Lee Holdridge. WAR HORSE by John Williams. So many more, I imagine.
(Thor)…Yes indeed. John Scott with SHERGAR. Carl Davis’ wonderful music for CHAMPION (which was used yesterday on ITV to underscore the horse/jockey line-up). BLACK BEAUTY by Danny Elfman. SYLVESTER by Lee Holdridge. WAR HORSE by John Williams. So many more, I imagine.
Yes, those are all fine. Let me add a few:
THE BLACK STALLION (Carmine Coppolla)
EQUUS: STORY OF A HORSE (Darren Fung)
BLACK BEAUTY (Guillaume Roussel)
SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (Hans Zimmer)
SEABISCUIT (Randy Newman)
THE HORSE WHISPERER (Thomas Newman)In westerns are always plenty of horses and also kind of horse race – ok more chases – in there, too 😉
A special mention for you, Jon, since we mentioned that person recently on another topic (you know who wrote that, right? No this is not really a great theme ;-)):
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