Should the BHA allow Knowhere to run in the National?

[Gingertipster]

Is there still a rule to stop poor jumpers from running in the National? Can't recall it ever being used. Knowhere may not fall that often (yet) but his record is still poor. There are not many races, even on conventional courses, where he's put in a good round of jumping. In the National he's failed 3 times to get around, unseating twice. When it comes to the National these days you still need to jump well, better than is needed on park courses. Horses do not have to “fall” to be a danger to other horses / jockeys, unseating rider is just as bad. Remember Paddy's return, a blinkered runner who took out a lot of runners at the Canal Turn while loose. Unable to see what was on his left, as he trotted across the take off side. Like Paddy's Return, Knowhere has been blinkered on his last two starts, worn cheek pieces in the two before that. Knowhere's jumping has got progressively worse through an error strewn career. So what chance this year? He's even got an X against his rating for a “Poor Jumper” in Timeform! Of course it is “possible” (highly unlikely) he'll get around this time, but the risk is surely NOT worth taking. Below is Knowhere's record over fences with Racing Post comments about his jumping. Every run over fences is included. This season 16^th Mar, Fell 7^th 6^th Mar, blundered 5^th, hit 10^th, mistake 16^th 30^th Jan, blun 14^th, 15^th and 16^th 1^st Jan, hit 1^st and 3^rd and 13^th 12^th Dec, PU before 8^th 14^th Nov, blun 5^th, PU before 3 out 24^th Oct, Mistk 12^th, hit last Last season 4 Apr, blun 12^th, PU before 25^th 13 Mar, Never jumping with any fluency 29 Nov, (nothing about jumping) 26 Oct, (nothing about jumping) 07/08 26 Apr, not fluent 9^th, mistake 20^th 5 Apr, blun & UR 25^th 14 Mar, Not fluent 4^th, blun 9^th, hit 13^th 26 Jan, hit 8^th, not fluent 4 out 15 Dec, hit 12^th, mistk 3 out 1 Dec, hit 13^th 17 Nov, (nothing about jumping) 20 Oct, mistk 8^th 06/07 14 Apr, blun & UR 8^th 14 Mar, blundered his way around 27 Jan, blun 1^st, hit 4^th 26 Dec, mistk last 9 Dec, Hit 6^th and 13^th, mistk 4 out, hit 2 out, not fluent last 18 Nov, mistk 4^th, blun 3 out 11 Nov, Fell 8^th 7 Oct, Jumped well 21 Sept, (nothing about jumping) 1^st Jan, Not fluent. Knowhere's fall at Cheltenham caused the death of Casey Jones, but this has nothing to do with my opinion of Knowhere's participation in the Grand National. I posed the question on another thread before that run. If the BHA are not going to stop Knowhere, then I can't see them ever stopping any runner from running. In my opinion Knowhere is a danger to himself, his jockey, other jockeys and their mounts.

[fintron]

Re: Should the BHA allow Knowhere to run in the National? interesting post Ginge. I agree with what you are saying, but the problem I see is that this is quite subjective, how do the BHA rule which horses are bad jumpers and thus a danger to others in the field? Knowhere is clearly a dodgy jumper but they'd need some way of gauging this to set a precedent. I suppose they have to treat each case individually. There would be opposition from the owners and trainers I presume as they obviously want to run the horse and have a crack at the prize. A related issue is also whether those horses at the bottom end of the spectrum should be allowed to race. There are a lot of poor quality horses rated sub 45 that seem devoid of ability. They roll up in the class 7 handicaps and never look like winning yet race several times before they are sent to the knackers yard. Should be lower OR limit for horses be raised too to get rid of the poor quality horses, or should we just let them get on with it and accept it is jobs for stable staff and more income for racecourses (although admittedly small income from the noddy races).