Eye opener … "There is no dignity for horses who have made people money." Credit:Getty Images Australia is second only to the United States in breeding thoroughbreds. Some 17,500 horses are bred every year, two-thirds of whom will never even make it to the track. "The racing industry is churning out all these horses with no contingency plan for when they can't race any more," says Ward Young from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses. "Once they are no longer an earning proposition, they start costing money. That means they need to offload the horses as soon as possible." Australians wager more than $15 billion a year on racing. "It is massive, a significant employer," says Vin Cox, managing director of Magic Millions, a Gold Coast-based thoroughbred racehorse auction house. But in this powerful commercial enterprise full of influential stakeholders, there is apparently no room for sentimentality for its turbo-charged commodity: the horse. Even Black Caviar's trainer Peter Moody, who says he is "an avid horse lover", admits: "I do have a soft spot for some horses. But it is business and I can't afford to get too attached." More than 30,000 horses raced last year in Australia. How many horses are being retired and what happens to them afterwards depends on whom you talk to. Ward Young says "the racing industry is slaughtering thousands of animals annually as they are discarded to make way for younger, faster horses", putting the numbers in the high five figures. "What we do know is that the industry breeds all these horses and the industry doesn't grow, so the same number of horses has to exit the industry every year." Peter McGauran, CEO of the Australian Racing Board, puts the numbers at "an estimated 8000", adding that the numbers put forward by Young are "an urban myth", while admitting that the fate of ex-racehorses is "still an unresolved issue".

Get thee to a knackery … a "doggers" yard in suburban Melbourne, the final stop for many race horses. Credit:courtesy of Ward Young, Coalition For the Protection of Racehorses But the truth is, nobody really knows how many there are. And "retirement" does not necessarily mean a sunny green pasture; it can be a one-way trip to the knackery. Until now the movement of horses has been neither regulated nor recorded. Says Bill Saunders of the Cyberhorse Racehorse Outplacement Program, "There is no system for ex-racehorse disposal. When I went to Racing Victoria to get official statistics on the size of the problem, they couldn't tell me. There was no official requirement for a trainer or owner to say that a horse had been retired or what happened to it. The only way that Racing Victoria knew a horse was no longer around was if it hadn't been entered in a race for awhile." Stablehands speak of horses "disappearing" from training complexes. "We know a handful of names, Black Caviar, Makybe Diva, Americain, but what about the rest of them?" asks Young. Pet hates … horses in a pen before being slaughtered. Credit:courtesy of Ward Young, Coalition For the Protection of Racehorses On a cold, sleeting winter's day on a bleak, flat plain on the border of NSW and Victoria, Good Weekend sees the flip side of the Royal Randwick racing set's lustre. It is hard to imagine a more dispiriting place than the Echuca Saleyards, known as "the doggers". Here, the horses that are not sold as riding horses, or not rescued, go to the kill pens - to be sold as dog meat.

Among the depressed, neglected horses with swollen legs, protruding bones and bad hooves are young, beautiful thoroughbreds and yearlings who were not good enough. Distressed and frightened, the whites of their eyes rolling, neither well fed nor cared for, the horses sense that something is very wrong. "They know it is the end of the line," says Georgie Purcell from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses. Why the long face? … Georgie Purcell from the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses with a horse rescued from the meat pens. Credit:courtesy of Ward Young, Coalition For the Protection of Racehorses There is absolutely no dignity for horses who have kept people employed and made them money. Some of the horses comfort each other, others step forward with trust in their huge liquid eyes as the auctioneer comes to them, shouting, and they are sold for $200 to pet-meat knackeries. One horse is so frightened by the noise it tries to leap out of the high metal pen. It is deeply upsetting to see them driven out in trucks bound for the knackery, where they will spend their last minutes on earth in a corrugated iron shed with "Fresh Pet Meat" crudely painted on it. They will be rounded up and taken one by one into the killing box, where they will be shot in front of each other. "This is what they are reduced to," says Young. "After the glory, fame, adulation, they end up on a windy plain at a knackery waiting for a bullet in the head." As the horses huddle together outside, it is possible to see thoroughbred brands on some of them. "They communicate with each other," says Young. "They suffer, they quiver, they shake, they mourn. There is absolutely no dignity for horses who have kept people employed and made them money."

Deposer was a bay horse born in Ireland that raced at Royal Ascot, went to Hong Kong, then came to Australia and won more than $1.1 million - before being dumped in the Echuca meat pens. He was alone, forgotten and left for dead, when filmed by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses last year. "There have been horses bought from the meat pens who, when their brands have been traced, have been found to have earned hundreds and thousands of dollars in their racing careers," says Rebecca Atkins, president of Quest Equine Welfare, which provides horse rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing. Often, their final destination is overseas. Each year, some 30,000 to 40,000 horses are processed in Australia for human consumption in countries such as France, Belgium, Japan and Russia. The demand is for healthy, young animals who yield the best cuts. It is estimated that up to 50 per cent of them are thoroughbreds under seven years old, and some as young as two or three. Many horses who don't make it in top-tier racing are sold to the country tracks, where they can be raced until they break down. Mares will be kept for breeding when they finish racing, but sent to slaughter when they are too old to have foals. "Quite often the racing people will just call the knackery and the horse will go straight from the training complex and won't even make it to the saleyards," says Atkins. All the trainers and breeders spoken to by Good Weekend insist they do try to find homes for their animals as pleasure or event horses when they leave the industry. Peter Moody admits a lot of his horses don't finish their careers. "Wastage does happen but we try to place ours in pony clubbing, or dressage or show jumpers or for police horses. I am at the top of the pile, so I am not exposed to it. People will take my horses." Says Cyberhorse's Bill Saunders, "Talking to trainers, if they do send them to slaughter it is usually a completely unsuitable horse for re-homing, a mental ratbag or vicious or unreliable or a danger to itself and the people around it."

Not surprisingly, Ward Young disagrees. "Studies have found that 89 per cent of racehorses have stomach ulcers from stress. A lot of their aggressive behaviour is just a symptom of an underlying problem. But they can become a lovely horse with the right care." From an early age, racehorses have been taught that there are two speeds: stop and go (really fast in a straight line). Says Saunders, "They are sensitive emotional creatures. Once they work out that you can go slowly without being punished into going faster, they are very happy with the idea. Then you have got them listening to what you want. " Former police horse trainer Scott Brodie, the retraining manager at the Racing NSW-backed NSW Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Trust, says all horses suffer from separation anxiety. "They are herd animals. In the wild they operate on pure adrenalin," explains Brodie. When horses are fearful, their instinct is flight, running away. The racing industry exploits this finely tuned response to danger. The underlying problem, say some commentators, is there are just too many horses. "The breeding is just out of control and is being badly managed," says one industry insider. "The idea that more is better is unworkable. A lot of horses are poorly bred and born out of mares that are also damaged through racing. This results in a horse whose chances on the track are limited, if they make it at all." Rebecca Atkins says the overbreeding was apparent at a recent thoroughbred sale at the Inglis stables in Sydney. "There were thousands of thoroughbred yearlings being sold for $300 and $500. The meat buyers are going straight to the Inglis sales, which used to be prestigious. They need to stop breeding so many. That is the only solution."

Asks Moody, "Are there too many horses out there? Probably yes. Do some come to an untimely end? Probably yes. You are never, ever going to be able to stop it. If a horse is badly injured, it is more humane for it to be euthanised." The huge brown horse lifts his head, his ears pricked forward, and puts his velvety nose in my hand. Sir Pentire, who earned half a million dollars in his racing career, was given a second chance by horse rescuer Sue Forster. On her property outside Melbourne are 20 horses which have been given a last-minute reprieve. As she introduces each one, telling their sad stories, they are curious, gentle and friendly, crowding around her, nuzzling her. Grateful. Some had too many foals, others were raced too long. "They had to forget how to be racehorses and learn how to be a horse," says Forster. "People ask, 'What have you done to them?' I say, 'Nothing, I treat them like a horse, not like a number.'" Some of them will never get better or be ridden again, but with their shaggy winter coats they will live out their days in peace in these rolling green hills. She believes that horses are not properly formed when they are racing at two years old, when they are put to work to earn back the investment in them. Thoroughbreds begin training at 18 months and race at two; Australia's Golden Slipper is the world's richest horse race for two year olds. But horses are not fully grown until they are six. "It sets their bodies up for failure," says Forster. The RSPCA has called for a veterinarian certificate to ensure that a horse is mature enough to race at this age. Equestrian Australia, the national governing body for equestrian sports, has strict rules for the ages at which horses can compete in dressage, show jumping or eventing. The minimum age is six.

In spite of valiant efforts by people like Forster, Atkins says, "there really are not the homes for the numbers of horses that have been sacked, which is what they call those no longer worth racing. We have people contacting us regularly with beautiful horses, often two- or three-year-olds, who are trying to unload them for free. Some trainers do care but they are in the minority." The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has long advocated that the Australian thoroughbred racing industry should give just 1 per cent of the $15 billion collected in bets to look after horses when they leave the industry. "Every animal that comes into this world has a life expectancy of approximately 30 years," says Ward Young, "and the industry owes a duty of care to that animal knowing that it might not be successful in racing. Look at the Melbourne Cup: people arrive by helicopter, there are all the superfluous, frivolous things and the well-maintained rose gardens. Well, okay, if they can find the money for all that infrastructure, how about a little bit for the horse?" In recent years, racing bodies - facing a backlash over the whiff of cruelty that clings to horse racing - have begun making moves to be more accountable to the animals that provide their livelihoods. Says Bill Saunders: "The average racehorse owner is more aware these days of what might happen to the horse if they don't get fully involved. You have got to encourage them to do the right thing, so that it becomes the normal thing that happens and anyone who doesn't is playing dirty pool." Saunders approached Racing Victoria, which decided to fund his pilot Cyberhorse Racehorse Outplacement Program. "The purpose of the program when I started it three years ago was to demonstrate that it is possible to retrain and re-home racehorses."

Saunders' program has provided good outcomes, proving that horses that might have been hopeless on the track can be brilliant dressage or show jumpers. He makes sure the horses are matched to the right people with the right skills for that horse, and that those people have the resources to care for them. The sale of high-octane thoroughbreds to inexperienced 16-year-old girls, who are desperate for a pony but can only afford an ex-racehorse, is often the start of the slippery slope to the knackery. In 2011, Racing Victoria appointed Cara Shelley as its equine welfare manager. While cynics say this is a mere public relations exercise, Shelley bristles at the idea of thoroughbreds ending up at the doggers yards. No horse will be going there on her watch. "If I hear about it, I will go and speak to the trainer." Racing Victoria's Off The Track program sponsors events that supports horses in their post-racing careers. "We promote the retired racehorse as the ideal horse to have," says Shelley. "We want everyone to have retired racehorses because of their versatility and athleticism. The racing industry has always cared." Bill Saunders believes funds should be channelled into big-prizemoney show jumping and dressage competitions for ex-racehorses, as occurs in other countries. "In the US and UK, where this whole rehabilitation has been going on for longer, it is almost becoming fashionable to own a retired racehorse," says Saunders. Similar programs are now under way in Tasmania, South Australia and NSW. Scott Brodie says they have found homes for about 90 horses since its program started in 2011. "If we had more staff, we could do a lot more." Loading

But while allegations levelled by animal-welfare people and defended by the racing industry go back and forth, no one denies that horses do continue to fall through the cracks - even if they disagree on how many. In the meantime, more and more horses face a miserable fate at best, and a horrific fate at worst, no matter how hard saviours like Saunders and Brodie try to give a lucky few a better life.