POOR planning last year turned the launch of the weights for the Randox Health Grand National into a farce, with poor acoustics at the V & A in London resulting in a night to be largely forgotten. Event organisers had chosen to dispense with the traditional lunch in favour of a more glamorous evening launch in the capital city, hoping to broaden the appeal to a wider media audience.

The same format was chosen again this year, but in the ‘safer’ location of the Princess Anne Theatre in BAFTA. This Piccadilly venue promised much and delivered nothing. In fairness, the cause of the second successive debacle was not solely in the hands of the organisers, with workers accidently cutting the electricity supply in mid-afternoon, plunging a number of buildings on the street into darkness.