Campaigns · Previous · 2023
The Grand National & the Summer of Animal Rising.
Nine front pages. Hours of broadcast coverage. The summer animal racing couldn’t look away from.
Aintree, April 2023
More than 100 people aimed to halt the Grand National — the UK’s largest horse race — to put the treatment of racehorses in front of the biggest audience in British sport. The action generated nine front pages and hours of broadcast air-time, and forced a national debate about deaths and injuries in racing.
The summer that followed
The Grand National was only the start. The Summer of Animal Rising brought disruptions at three more racing events, sheep rescues from royal land, demonstrations at greyhound racetracks around the country, and a banner drop at the Greyhound Derby Final.
The courts answered
In the trials that followed, juries repeatedly refused to convict — delivering not-guilty verdicts and hung juries until, in late 2025, the CPS dropped the remaining Grand National cases entirely. Independent research by Social Change Lab found the disruption produced positive long-term societal change in attitudes to animals.
The animals still need you.
Today the fight is factory farms and the beagles of MBR Acres.