National courage

Only a fool puts money on a jockey instead of a horse. But perhaps the Grand National today is a time for foolishness. No one really knows which horse will win, but many people would like to see one of the three women jockeys bring home £561,300 for the owner. Odds have been shortening on Katie Walsh’s mount Baie des Iles. Changes to the fences have reduced the danger for the 40 runners (fatal accidents to which have in the past been heartbreaking for viewers), but the 30 jumps remain the most challenging in racing. “People tell me I must be mad to put myself in such a dangerous place,” Ms Walsh has admitted. But even those unfamiliar with the turf have seen in Spencer Murphy’s prizewinning photograph of her in the National Portrait Gallery not madness but courage tempered by skill.