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Little Josh ridden by Sam Twiston-Davies pictured at Cheltenham last year. Tony Marshall/EMPICS Sport

Little Josh dies at Aintree on eve of Grand National

Another fataility mars the second day of racing at the Liverpool venue.

LITTLE JOSH WAS put down after breaking his shoulder at Aintree today.

“We can sadly confirm that Little Josh broke a shoulder in the Topham Chase. He was treated immediately but needed to be humanely put down,” A tweet from Aintree racecourse reads.

Jockey Sam Twiston-Davies was unseated from the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained horse during the race over the Grand National course. Ted Walsh saw his mount Battlefront die of a heart attack yesterday at the course.

More to follow

Zebo in for Munster, Tommy Bowe named on Ulster bench for Heineken Cup 1/4 final

That Bubba Watson hovercraft golf cart is a real thing

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31 Comments
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    Mute mikeobrien4FM
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    Apr 5th 2013, 4:55 PM

    Would a burger joke be insensitive?!

    32
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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:15 PM

    It’d be in-original and old.

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    Mute Derek Hawkeye Byrne
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    Apr 5th 2013, 4:56 PM

    Very sad. I hope big Josh is not too upset.

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    Mute Free Gallant
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    Apr 5th 2013, 4:57 PM

    Poor horse.

    Two horses dead and the grand national hasn’t even started

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    Mute Ferg
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:44 PM

    I can see an increased output on ‘beef’ lasagne over the next few days!

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    Mute Philip Murphy
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    Apr 6th 2013, 3:27 AM

    Ha ha very good

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:05 PM

    Another bit of ammunition for the tree huggers! I hope none of these people drive, think of all the insects they’re killing!

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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:30 PM

    Im impressed that you’ve made a link between people who care about the well being of a large intelligent animal,bred and now dead all for entertainment and gambling and tree huggers!! Nevermind driving i hope u dont breathe oxygen,when those trees are gone so are we ;)

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:40 PM

    Cows pigs and sheep are bred for slaughter…. What purpose do horses have in a modern world if not racing? They are very well looked after, and love to run and jump, it’s in their nature. Deaths are unfortunate, but very rare, given the sheer number of races that are run, 28 deaths out of over 45000 runners, about 0.05%.
    Humans are the dominant species on the planet, deal with it.

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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:50 PM

    Cows,pigs and sheep are bred for eating among other things. I dont know about you but i class eating as neccesary for living. I wouldnt class racing animals as neccesary just for entertainment and gambling. Why do animals have to have a purpose to you, in that case what purpose does a bear have? We cant race it,so might as well kill then eh?

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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:51 PM

    Oh and im aware horse fatalities are low in racing but they are not in the grand national,deal with as you say;)

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:57 PM

    This wasn’t the grand national. Horse racing is a source of massive employment, and therefore income for governments… Bears aren’t really in your face though are they? They tend to keep away from human contact. What would you suggest to do with these animals that would have no further use is racing was banned?
    We could always become vegetarian…

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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:59 PM

    We could just treat them like any other animals and leave them be?

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 6:02 PM

    With the sheer numbers of horses around, there would have to be a cull

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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 6:04 PM

    then so be it..

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 6:16 PM

    And of the horses that get injured running around in the wild? Just let them die in pain?
    You anti racing hippies don’t have a clue that the horses actually enjoy racing! The weight of the jockey doesn’t bother them, they’re quite strong animals, carrying less than 10% of their body weight. Look at Sprinter Sacre today, jumping and prancing around before and after the race with Geraghty on his back! Look at the horses who’s jockeys fall off, if they didn’t like it, they’d stop no? The whip only makes a noise, I could whip you with one and you wouldn’t feel it!

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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 6:29 PM

    Sorry i going to respond to you until you used the word “hippies”! You sound like an american drill sargeant from 60′s, “cut those sideburnes boy”

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 6:35 PM

    I watch full metal jacket lady night

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    Mute David O'Sullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 6:38 PM

    Fecking iPhone!

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    Mute Lisa Coyne
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    Apr 5th 2013, 4:59 PM

    You could have specified in the headline that it was a horse.

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    Mute kevin osullivan
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:05 PM

    The fact aintree was mentioned kinda gave that away

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    Mute Lisa Coyne
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:06 PM

    Are children not allowed into Aintree?

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    Mute Justin Credible
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:06 PM

    Who would call their son (or daughter for that matter) little josh? Clearly it was about the horse…

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    Mute Lisa Coyne
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:10 PM

    Any child is generally little, anyway poor horse, thankfully it’s not a child.

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    Mute Justin Credible
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:11 PM

    If it was a child they’d have said his first name and surname. Not just call him little josh

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    Mute Lisa Coyne
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:14 PM

    You could be a horse Justin Credible.

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    Mute Justin Credible
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:16 PM
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    Mute Keith Ward
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:33 PM

    Ignore her shes a troll,a very bad troll

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    Mute Keith Wizzy
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    Apr 5th 2013, 4:57 PM

    Local McDonalds be chuffed :p

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    Mute James Halford
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:16 PM

    Tony Soprano will be very upset…

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    Mute Katie Buttimer
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    Apr 5th 2013, 5:21 PM

    :( too horrible !

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