I’VE WRITTEN BEFORE ABOUT the existential threat to racing posed by the gambling White Paper and the so-called “affordability checks” pushed by the Gambling Commission. But awful as those may be, they at least have the veneer of being part of a supposedly democratic process.
Try explaining that idea to the Tarquins, Henriettas and Jolyons of the so-called animal rights brigade. Aintree staff and the Liverpool police have not received infiltrating the Animal Rising group and publishing their plans. But the perimeter of Aintree is hellishly difficult to cordon off and the race could easily have been abandoned had the authorities not managed to stop them.
