Total Cheltenham Death Toll Rises
With the festival on for yet another season, the death toll for horses subjected to this cruelty continues to rise, now counting three deaths at Cheltenham in 2019 alone.
©Animal Aid
One of the many other horses who has suffered a similar fate on a British race track.
Victims
Ballyward
Killed following a fatal injury
Age 7
The Willie Mullins-trained Ballyward was fatally injured on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival https://t.co/vr7fdMBjX8 pic.twitter.com/7r2aBnQDfX
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) March 12, 2019
Sir Erec
Killed following shattered foreleg pastern
Age 4
Sir Erec’s leg literally snapped in two during a race – the second horse to die at #CheltenhamFestival this week. 👇
Re-tweet if you agree this is a national disgrace. pic.twitter.com/579hudaElp
— Luke Steele (@Lukesteele4) March 15, 2019
Invitation Only
Killed following a fatal injury
Age 8
#CheltenhamFestival #InvitationOnly died today at Cheltenham. This is the 42nd Death in Racing this year & 3rd this week at #CheltenhamFestival Added to the 181 Deaths last year #HorseRacing pic.twitter.com/gywk23yzKw
— LouLouBelle (@CaraL67) March 15, 2019
How Horses Suffer in Racing
Horses bred for greed and speed are pushed beyond their natural abilities and forced to run at breakneck pace. Those who don’t sustain horrific injuries when they crash face-first onto the track may suffer heart attacks, bleed from their lungs, or develop painful ulcers and other health problems that come only from being pushed to the breaking point for human amusement.
©Liss Ralston
Drugs – both legal and illegal – have been administered by trainers and even veterinarians to mask pain in some cases so that horses who should be recuperating instead run with injuries, exacerbating them.
A Survivor’s ‘Life’ After Racing
Even those who make it off the track alive often don’t live happily ever after. Every year, thousands of horses – including spent Thoroughbreds and those who don’t “make the grade” – are discarded like used betting slips.
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 Europe and Asia.
What You Can Do
Cheltenham Festival is not alone when it comes to exploiting horses – approximately 200 die on racetracks across the UK every year.
Just as ITV broadcasts Cheltenham, the channel continues to show the Grand National, despite growing public awareness of the suffering of horses in the racing industry. Please send a message to ITV Chair Sir Peter Bazalgette and ask him to take this cruel event off our screens.
