By Simon Jones for MailOnline
Published: 20:15 BST, 3 April 2019 | Updated: 20:15 BST, 3 April 2019
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The Grand National meeting at Aintree will get underway on Thursday with more than £1.5million invested in trying to protect the welfare of horses.
Racegoers have grown accustomed to animal welfare protests outside the course and recent deaths of Sir Erec and Invitation Only at Cheltenham have only heightened concerns ahead of Aintree this week.
However, the racecourse has made huge improvements in recent years with changes made since 2012 including the rebuilding of fences, facilities and stables.
A total of £1.5m has been invested at Aintree to ensure the safest ground is available for races
They also made it compulsory that any jockeys not to have ridden over the Grand National course more than twice are required to attend an official walk of the course with a BHA jockey coach.
The Professional Jockeys Association is supporting the move and Carl Llewellyn, twice a winner of the Grand National, and former fellow top jockey Brian Harding,
