Below is a statement from World Horse Welfare regarding the Grand National meet.

World Horse Welfare Statement in response to the Randox Grand National 2024

"It’s certainly good news that all horses made it home safely in the Grand National. Today was a true spectacle for all the right reasons, and showed that responsible riding and the changes Aintree made to improve safety did not detract from the race. While it will obviously take a few years to be able to truly assess the impact of the latest changes, today was an encouraging start.

"As independent welfare advisors to the British Horseracing Authority, we support Aintree in making evidence-based changes, but the tragic deaths of Giovinco and Pikar on Friday are a clear reminder of the importance of the Jump Race Risk Model to lead further changes to make this and other jump races safer.

"No fatality can ever be accepted as a consequence of racing and it is in racing’s power to continually and vigorously pursue improvements, and we look forward to supporting them in this where we can."

Roly Owers, Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare

ENDS Note to editors For more information please call Zoe Williamson at 07920 492 122 or email [email protected]

About World Horse Welfare:

Visit our website: www.worldhorsewelfare.org

World Horse Welfare (Registered charity no: 206658 and SC038384), is an international horse charity that improves the lives of horses in the UK and worldwide through care, research, education and influence. Since we were founded in 1927, our whole approach has been practical, based on scientific evidence and our extensive experience, and focused on delivering lasting change for horses in need, sport and leisure horses and work and production horses, improving welfare through supporting the horse-human relationship. We are the only equine welfare charity to support the responsible involvement of horses in sport and are independent welfare advisers to the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) and the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). We promote the concept that horse sport needs to do more to maintain its social licence, i.e. the support of the public, by demonstrably prioritising the welfare of its horses throughout their lives