Reduced danger without reduced thrill: key to National's future is still how Hugh McIlvanney described it

In our opening montage for the 2018 Grand National on ITV, the late legendary sports journalist Hugh McIlvanney closed with the words: “History stretching back to 1839 hasn’t wearied the Grand National. And the safest bet to be a non-faller is its popularity.”

When I sat down with him to plan the piece at the end of the preceding winter, those words seemed apt. The National had been on a healthy run of things, with no fatalities in the six years since the fences were changed to their very core, with solid wood replaced by flexible plastic.

In Hugh’s words: “Modification of the fences and the increased willingness of riders to pull up tired and beaten partners have brought a welcome reduction of the dangers to life and limb, equine and human. But the capacity to thrill hasn’t diminished.”