Four Horses Die at the Grand National Festival 2023

Envoye Special, Dark Raven, Hill Sixteen and Hullnback have died at the Grand National Festival this year.

The death toll continues to rise each year, claiming more lives. Since 2010, 36 horses have died at the Grand National Festival.

Grand National Festival Horse Deaths

At 4.5 miles, the headline Grand National race is one of the longest and most hazardous in the world – the high risk factor is what makes it famous. Almost every year, horses are killed during the three-day festival, sustaining horrific and often fatal injuries at notorious fences such as the Chair, Becher’s Brook, and the Canal Turn.

Every time horses are forced to jump over these excessively high obstacles, it puts tremendous pressure on their slender front legs and they risk broken legs, necks, and backs.

In some cases, drugs – both legal and illegal – have been administered by trainers and even veterinarians to mask the pain of horses who should have been recuperating so that they could instead be forced to run with injuries, making them worse.

After the Race

Even those who make it off the track alive are likely to suffer. Thousands of horses – including “spent” Thoroughbreds and those who don’t “make the grade” – are discarded like used betting slips every year.

They’re abandoned, neglected, or sold for slaughter, their flesh ending up either in dog or cat food or as “prime cuts” for human consumption in Asia and Europe.

BBC Panorama’s The Dark Side of Horse Racing revealed that thousands of horses used for racing in the UK and Ireland are sent to the abattoir every year.

Help Horses Forced Into Racing

As long as companies still sponsor the deadly Grand National Festival, horses will continue to die. Please, take to Twitter and use our action alert to urge sponsors to withdraw their financial support immediately: