Get On George became the second fatality at this year’s Grand National meeting after pulling up in the second race at Aintree on Saturday.

The six-year old gelding, trained by Joel Parkinson and Sue Smith, was attended to by vets on the course and was put down immediately after the race. It was the second fatal injury to a racehorse at this year’s Aintree showpiece.

On Friday, Gold Dancer suffered a fatal injury after making a bad mistake at the last before continuing to run on a considerable distance to win the Mildmay Novices’ Chase. Jockey Paul Townend told stewards the horse felt sound and continued running in a straight line to the finish before losing his action round the bend.

Vets at the scene agreed the best course of action was to humanely euthanise Gold Dancer who had broken his back. The British Horseracing Authority said it would further assess the incident through its fatality review process.

Efforts have been made in recent years to improve the safety of the Grand National, including moving the front fence forward to try to slow down the start of the race and restricting the maximum number of runners to 34.