Anti-hunt protesters have condemned the Countryside Alliance's leasing of a runner in the Martell Grand National as a cynical publicity stunt.
The Countryside Alliance, the pro-hunting pressure group, has joined forces with the charity, Riding For Life, to lease Irish challenger Buck Rogers for the Aintree showpiece on April 8th.
Riding For Life, which had leased runners in two previous Grand Nationals, is raising money for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and Riding for the Disabled.
The Countryside Alliance, which organised the raffle for the horse, will receive one-third of the moneys raised when the funding drive is concluded at the end of the year. The raffle raised a total of £27,000.
Richard Strong, the fund raising director of the Countryside Alliance, said: "I thought it was an excellent thing for the Countryside Alliance.
"It's a totally new alignment and it's just our sort of thing.
"We'd love to support charities but also obviously get involved ourselves. We want that. I have a lot of friends who are members of the Jockey Club and I enjoy racing myself so I am very keen on this."
However, the League Against Cruel Sports has questioned the Countryside Alliance's motives.
Press officer Steve Rickett said: "This is a cynical manipulation, trying to get positive media attention at a high-profile event. It's the Alliance trying to get away from the image of a pro-hunt organisation, away from defending foxhunting, to get into more mainstream areas of activity.
"Its quite interesting that of the 124 press releases put out last year by the Alliance only 20 were related to non-hunting issues. So this does show that they now realise that most of the countryside isn't interested in defending hunting."
Strong insisted the Countryside Alliance, which he revealed recently received a "five-figure" donation from the British Horseracing Board, was sincere in wanting to raise its profile within racing.
He said: "We are, as a campaign, doing more fund raising at race tracks, where we have the Countryside Racedays. We have the one at Cheltenham and on November 1 for the first time we are having one at Kempton, so Countryside Alliance Racedays, which is very much with the blessing of the Jockey Club, are very much a thing that is going to grow.
"We believe the Countryside Alliance is a much broader umbrella. People whatever their backgrounds who live in the countryside are going to support an organisation which is out to protect the countryside.
"What we're trying to do is put ourselves into the area of the fishermen, the horse racing community, the shooting community and obviously hunting. And at the moment hunting is the one that right's up there. But if it isn't hunting next year, it could be racing next year and if it isn't racing next year it could be something else. We're trying to broaden the whole basis of not only what we say, but who we appeal to."
Buck Rogers has been leased from trainer Victor Bowens for around £20,000 and will run in the Martell Grand National in the name and colours of Mrs Josephine Skinner, a Countryside Alliance member from Wetherby, Yorkshire.
Richard Gurney, the project director for Racing For Life, said: "That's about the level you've got to go to if you want a horse with a chance, and we think this one will be in the frame. Richard Dunwoody and John Francome have been very helpful in pointing us in the right direction.
"This is the third time we've leased a horse for the race. We had Over The Deal in 1996 and Joe White who was pulled up in 1998. You want to try and get a horse with a chance and two years ago we tried to get Earth Summit, but Nigel Payne said he wouldn't lease him for a million pounds."
Gurney said that Riding For Life had contributed £373,000 to the Bob Champion Cancer Trust over the past six years and maintained he had no fears that the involvement of the Countryside Alliance could spark adverse publicity or even protests at the Grand National.
"I don't see a problem with it," he said.
The League Against Cruel Sports has not plans to demonstrate and its spokesman said: "We're not opposed to the race itself and we're not going to do anything at all in terms of even protesting outside."
