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Grand National Protestors Sentenced Following 2023 Aintree Delays

Nine Animal Rising campaigners have been handed community service orders at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to public nuisance, following the group’s attempt to stop the 2023 Grand National race at Aintree.


  • The defendants were arrested on 15/4/23 while campaigning against the Grand National at Aintree, as campaigners attempted to enter the racetrack to prevent the race taking place. In total, 118 people were arrested on the day, their actions delaying the race by around 15 minutes. [1]

  • Today (02/05/25), nine defendants were handed community service orders at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to public nuisance. The orders ranged from 200-110 hours of mandatory community service each, with each defendant also ordered to pay £133 court costs, and one defendant given a nine-week custodial sentence suspended for six months.

  • Three horses died over the course of the 2023 Aintree event [2]. Following the 2025 event, horse Celebre D’Allen died of respiratory failure after collapsing on the race track, Willy de Houelle died earlier in the festival, while four horses died during the 2025 Scottish Grand National [3].


Animal Rising has said their actions “helped shine the spotlight onto our broken relationship with animals and the natural world.”


Claudia Penna Rojas, Animal Rising spokesperson, commented:


“2025 has been a terrible year for horse racing. The shocking deaths at this year’s Grand National and Scottish Grand National laid bare the brutal reality of the sport to the viewing public. Week after week, horses are pushed to their limits and lose their lives on racetracks, and more people are waking up to the cruelty behind the spectacle. This cruelty is exactly why campaigners feel compelled to take peaceful action against industry-sponsored suffering.”

Spokespeople for Animal Rising are available for further comment. Email press@animalrising.org  


Animal Rising is a social movement campaigning for a safe ecological future. The group primarily calls for the transition to a secure and sustainable plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme.


ENDS


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Notes to editors:

Scottish Grand National Deaths:


 
 
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