Two horses died but - I imagine to the horror of Aintree's organising committee - one being Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Synchronised had headlines written all over it.
The fact that Synchronised had thrown jockey A P McCoy prior to the race, and gone on a trot a mile around the track beforehand, led inevitably to vile tweets towards McCoy for having carried on with the race. The joy of hindsight from many who know sod all about racing, and wouldn't even have known the horse existed before the event, is more than depressing.
It means more headaches for Aintree and more fixes will be made but, as we know very well here, none of them will appease those who just want to see the event abolished.
It's telling that of the list of fatalities in the race's 170 year history, half have occurred since the 1970s. This coincides with the period where we stopped worrying about how to feed ourselves, make sure the kids were educated properly, and that we had clothes on our backs. The time when full-time worriers began to occupy the extra leisure time we were afforded, using the improved media we could all now see on TV instead of in laborious print.
Since then, tweaks and 'safety improvements' have continuously been made, but the fatalities have increased rather than been eradicated. The two deaths today both happened at Becher's Brook - a fence previously known as fearsome due to its big unseen drop - which had been levelled off prior to this year's race.
Risk compensation has been up to its usual mischievous tricks, it would seem.
Race horses were looked after far worse in the past than they are now, and the fences were incredibly more hazardous than they are now. Yet fatalities are increasing, simply because the risks are reduced so more chances are taken. It's counter-intuitive, but those who claim to care about the welfare of the horses will never seemingly look at the statistics and try a different approach.
There are two reasons in my opinion. Firstly, there's probably the usual class motivation behind much of the heart-bleeding. The sport has always been regarded by many as a preserve of the rich, and served by those evil bookies who want to steal money from people, despite their not being forced to give it to them. It wasn't long before a 'hilarious' tweet was circulated widely advocating similar hazards - floating mines actually - to be placed in front of the University Boat Race crews, presumably in an attempt to conflate two sporting events linked to those who are envied as better off.
Secondly, it's our entire modern attitude to risk itself, and the same ignorance of benefits which we see in other subjects discussed here.
Nothing except total prohibition will ever be risk free. Even if the fences were taken away from the Grand National entirely, there would still be the risk of fatalities due to the exhausting distance of the race, and it would destroy the spectacle and therefore the event itself. So if one truly wants to eradicate these deaths, your only option is a ban, which is the stated position of some.
If you're happy with that, fine. But the loss of enjoyment and financial benefit that the Grand National gives to the nation would be lost forever. Another bit of colour erased from the calendar of already over-populated grey and depressing days.
Yet again, we're pandering to a vocal minority, many of whom have no care about those who enjoy the race simply because they don't particularly care about it themselves. They're not affected, but want it banned anyway.
It says everything about the BBC led debate that they did so by way of repeatedly quoting their darling Ricky Gervais. It was the best way to get it aired as an unbiased piece. They omitted to point out that he objected personally, but was not of the opinion that it should be banned because of that.
Sadly, we have a nation now which is not as intelligent. Instead, it wants everything banned of which it disapproves, and in the pursuit is willing to block out all advantages and benefits without seeing that such crass stupidity is advancing the blandness of everyone's life as a result.
