(Virtual) Grand National 2020

[Indeliblelink]

So anyone going to tune in to ITV at 5PM for this?

Talking Horses: millions will tune in for ITV's Virtual Grand National

The strict UK lockdown means that this virtual race could pull in more viewers than the actual Aintree spectacular could

www.theguardian.com

Virtual Grand National: Runners, riders & betting on race to benefit NHS

The actual Grand National may be off, but Saturday will still feature a televised Virtual Grand National.

www.bbc.co.uk

Is it worth putting £10 (the max you can bet on one horse) on the algorithm to come up with Tiger Roll? If the bookie's profits are going to the NHS would you want to win?
Lets hope it's better than the the virtual F1 racing which was pretty awful.
Maybe this should be in the TV forum rather than sport.

 

[AverageJoe]

I'll be watching it.

It'll be interesting to see how the modelling works. The VGN has run since 2017 and has always been pretty close to the actual GN in terms of results.

There's also the Race of Champions today. A collection of 40 of the greatest horses including Red Rum and Tiger Roll also racing against each other. Could be interesting.

 

[Spandex]

How the modeling for this race works is revealed in this informative video:

 

[AverageJoe]

It's got a little more sophisticated these days

 

[Indeliblelink]

How the modeling for this race works is revealed in this informative video:

I think there's still one of those on Brighton pier.

 

[Nine Bob Note]

Got the winner the last four years, but I took this year off (Not having a passport or driving licence I could send to the betting site I've been gambling for over 18 years). Pretty glad, as there's no way in hell I'd've bet on a horse called Potters Corner

 

[Miss-Shelf]

My mum was sad she couldn't put a bet on at the bookies as she's done every year since she was 10 [her dad liked a flutter]

It's a good year for the horses though

 

[skyscraper101]

They should just do this every year. Fuck real horse racing.

 

[alsoknownas]

Last time I bet on the National (years and years ago) both horses I picked were 'destroyed'. Decided not to bother with the sport again after that.

I was just trying to work out which they were, but couldn't really figure it out. But yipes! - the race seems to have killed 83 horses so far . Joe Wynne, a jockey, was also killed in 1862. Beecher's Brook itself has taken 14 (horse) lives, most recently in 2012. Up for Review was killed last year at the first fence (though possibly on the second lap).

The meeting as a whole (which includes a few other steeplechases) between 2000 and 2013 killed a total of 40 horses. If you extrapolate that for the history of the race (which is not a data sound thing to do, but let's do it anyway) it suggests as many as 532 horses may have died to put on this spectacle . This last bit is wildly speculative, as death rates have varied, both upward and downward over the long course of the events history. But still, I think it's safe to say that the number is in the hundreds.

 

[StoneRoad]

Last time I bet on the National (years and years ago) both horses I picked were 'destroyed'. Decided not to bother with the sport again after that.

I was just trying to work out which they were, but couldn't really figure it out. But yipes! - the race seems to have killed 83 horses so far . Joe Wynne, a jockey, was also killed in 1862. Beecher's Brook itself has taken 14 (horse) lives, most recently in 2012. Up for Review was killed last year at the first fence (though possibly on the second lap).

The meeting as a whole (which includes a few other steeplechases) between 2000 and 2013 killed a total of 40 horses. If you extrapolate that for the history of the race (which is not a data sound thing to do, but let's do it anyway) it suggests as many as 532 horses may have died to put on this spectacle . This last bit is wildly speculative, as death rates have varied, both upward and downward over the long course of the events history. But still, I think it's safe to say that the number is in the hundreds.

2045 horses died in 4774 days, according to this campaign ...

Race Horse Death Watch

www.horsedeathwatch.com

Note - that's just the ones that "have raced" and not all the off-track deaths are recorded (ie after a race or in training), nor does it cover the vastv number thatb do not make the grade.

I wish / want horse-racing made a lot safer than it is for the horses and riders ...
Maybe, eventually, the death rate at places like Cheltenhan and Aintree will encourage more virtual racing.
(and the prospect of pitting past champions against more recent ones)

My boycott of the GN extends to refusing bets in office sweepstakes ...

 

[alsoknownas]

I know a lot of online and virtual things can seem a bit 'weird', but it does get to a bit of a point where you're watching an algorithmic representation of imaginary horses to see which one can run the fastest .