There’s no measure the industry can take that can erase the fact it is exploiting them, stealing their lives and then often condemning them to an early death (Picture: Alex Livesey/Getty)

This weekend is the Grand National, the biggest event in the horse racing calendar – and if I had my way, it would also be the last.

Racing people often claim that they love horses and treat them better than they would their own families – but according to racing regulatory body the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) own statistics, 4,905 horses have died because of racing since 1994.

That means they have either died on the course, or have died or been put down later due to racing linked injuries.

And the number of deaths has risen: in 2018, 202 horses died as a result of racing in Great Britain – the highest number of deaths since 2014. According to Animal Aid’s Race Horse Death Watch, who say they have confirmed every fatality, 52 horses have died this year alone on course.




I believe drastic action is needed.

We also have to consider the things that racing people prefer not to talk about at all – like what happens to horses when they are too old to race.

Few horses enjoy a happy retirement. For many, their sad lives end in the slaughterhouse, with a bullet through the temple or a metal bolt fired into the brain.

Their corpses are often driven to Europe to be sold as meat.

We only accept the current situation with horses because we’ve been manipulated into thinking different animals deserve different treatment (Picture: Alan Crowhurst/Getty)

A fate that also awaits some retired horses that are driven to laboratories to be experimented upon, once they have served their purpose at the races.

The racing industry exploits these innocent animals throughout their lives, so it can wring money out of them.

And there is serious money to be made: somewhere in the region of £300million is expected to be wagered on the 40 participants.

At the annual Aintree Festival, which the Grand National is a part of, 48 horses have died since 2000. And three horses died at last month’s Cheltenham Festival.

One of them, a seven-year-old called Ballyward was competing in a gruelling four-mile race in which only four of the 18 horses were able to finish.

Enough is enough – it is time to ban horse racing.

From birth to death, these animals are used to make money. There is no measure the industry can take that can erase the fact it is exploiting them, stealing their lives and then often condemning them to an early death.

Racing bosses say that the sport is natural and that horses enjoy it, but of course it only appears to be natural because racing horses have been conditioned into this behaviour from an early age.

And they are not the only ones who have been conditioned – if hundreds of sweet puppies or little kittens were frequently dying in a sport every year, the public would be outraged and demand that the sport is banned.

We only accept the current situation with horses because we’ve been manipulated into thinking different animals deserve different treatment.

When horses are injured or die on our race courses, the organisers quickly erect a tent around them, so the public cannot see what has happened.



If the bosses can’t clean up their act then we need to stop the whole charade.

Don’t bet on the Grand National. Give a tenner to a horse sanctuary instead.

*BHA have responded to the figure that 52 horses have died this year by saying that they release statistics annually and so would not have access to this year’s number. They added that ‘99.58 per cent of runners in British racing complete their race without incurring any long-term injury. However, as with all elite sports and all activities involving horses, there is an element of risk.

‘But as a consequence of British racing’s investment in safety, welfare and health, the number of horses that have suffered fatal injuries has decreased by a third in the last 20 years.’ While last year saw the same number of fatalities as 1994, the number of horses participating has increased, which means their has been a fatality drop.

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