SO you backed the Grand National winner, yes? It was easy really, who said it was a lottery, the best horse won. He had the best form and had gone off at 7/1 for a high class Gold Cup, he ran quite respectably in it, and here he was at 25/1.

But oh those stats, he was too young, had too much weight, wasn’t laid out for the race, never jumped a National fence in public or private, trainer never had a runner complete. No, stick with the proven experience. The Balthazar Kings, Solls, Rocky Creeks, right?

The last four Nationals have now produced two Gold Cup class winners and two pretty much unconsidered outsiders in Auroras Encore and Pineau De Re. Any horse can win it. It is as it always was.

Even though it’s an easier, safer race, 29 set out on the second circuit and there were no fallers from the first Canal Turn to the 26th. It’s still as unpredictable as ever and even a horse as reliable as Balthazar King can be caught out.

His fall was a reminder that you still cannot take chances at Aintree, he would have been on any list as guaranteed to get round but a wild dive at the Canal Turn was punished.

His unfortunate injury could have been disastrous but for quick thinking from all on the ground.

In 2012, the Channel 4 cameras had followed According To Pete who lost his life, this time they were luckier and showed the bond between lad and horse with Balthazar King, and the story continues with his recovery on today’s programme.

Even if Leighton Aspell might have dismounted a little quicker, there could be no doubt of the care and attention the winner received from the officials and all excellently captured by the Channel 4 team on the ground. It all showed the sport in a good light and the National featured for all the right reasons.

Over the three days, through the Channel 4 coverage, the latest jockey-cam proved an inspired addition. Gone are the days when it was an awkward addition to a rider and visibility was often lost when an inevitable sod of turf was thrown back and lodged on the lens. Each race over the fences offered a different insight to riding over the big fences.

For the first time the footage actually captured the drama of a race, from the jockey’s eye, on the back of the horse, or indeed on the ground.

The interference after Becher’s in the Foxhunters as Joe Hill tried desperately to hang on to Quinz as he veered into the path of Rouge Et Blanc and took out Harry Bannister despite the latter’s cries of “Joe, Joe”.

In the Topham, Aidan Coleman was faced with a wandering loose horse on the take off and flying into a fence before waiting for the all clear, as horses sailed over his head, and going in search of loose horses and finding “it’s my lad, hey Benny, how ya pal.” Even in the National the camera captured Many Clouds drive to the line with Leighton Aspell encouraging him. It was all great stuff.

Though it was proclaimed a good week for racing, it would be remiss not to mention the two more sobering stories.

On a busy weekend on social media, the one tweet everyone was hoping to see came on Sunday night when Robbie McNamara expressed his thanks as he came round after his horror fall on the eve of the Grand National.

Davy Condon’s Aintree fall also left career threatening injuries and Ger Fox was lucky to escape uninjured at Limerick on Wednesday in another unpredictable incident. There is often little significance given to the well-used phrase that A.P. McCoy walks away on his own terms. This week was a definite reminder.

The other story in a sadder vein on the Sunday was the loss of the Alan King-trained Balder Succes. Everyone has a horse that means a little more to them than others and he was a favourite of many.

You cannot wallow too long over the loss of a horse when placed alongside the risk the human participants accept daily but there was a heartfelt reaction from very many racing fans to his lad Steve Ayres – @orse_racing_lad – immediate sadness and loss.

Broken hearts will mend, you hope the broken bones will too. But the spirit remains unbroken. You know that everyone involved would do it all again, if and when able and they have the support and good wishes of all in the game. Maybe it was a good week for racing.