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Was there any update on Winning Smut on the Racing Channel after his heavy fall in the 5.35 at Ballinrobe yesterday evening? If there was on TG4 I didn’t catch it. The nature of the fall and the subsequent screen erection looked ominous. Brought down his stablemate
Sadly the Racing Post database is saying “Died as a 7yo”. Shamefully there is no mention of him being a fatality in the race comments, but that is not unusual.
RIP Winning Smut
The communication of such matters on the race course is nil and the racereader even if on course presumbly wouldn’t be told, so if they could they would ask the question. Kihavah perished on Sunday at Kelso and only a few on course surmised the bad news when the tractor hauled wagon was called rather than the horse ambulance.
Robnorth, what a sad state of affairs that is. It doesn’t give the impression of a sport where the horse is a valued participant.
Sometimes there are journalistic failings as deaths that were known about immediately have gone unmentioned in race reports. I agree that communication on the course is an issue too though.
Given some of the other obscure matters that it seems to be possible to capture in stewards’ reports, I think it should be compulsory that all on course deaths are reported in these.
Not sure how racecourses can communicate it on course to punters , don’t think a tannoy announcement of a horse death would add any fun to a day out on course , if you know the game you know via various means that are pretty transparent but if someone’s taken the family, kids maybe for a day out on course for fun , do they really need to know the rough side of the game .
If you see the knackers van heading down it is not ending good sadly . Used to be parked up front and centre in middle of course opposite grandstand at some courses I recall , usually a old dunger of a truck , they weren’t hiding it tbh .HCMW, my point about communication on the course being an issue related to how those who compile race reports may not always be aware of fatalities.
I don’t think the answer is communication over the tannoy. My wish is that information about on course fatalities should consistently be made available in the public record of the meeting e.g. in the stewards’ reports.
Where comment is regularly made in these reports that horse X lost a shoe or horse Y finished lame, I don’t think it is too much to expect that they could also mention horse Z had to be euthanised, or was taken away in the horse ambulance for further assessment.
I get you Marlingford , 100 pc agree , i read stipes reports a lot , in NZ , AU and HK its clearly detailed , incident , injuries , action , and ongoing matters relating to it . There is a heading noted Horse Actions in those stipes .
Ive read the BHA published stipes , v v average , in fact abysmal .
Have a read of Aus ones on RISA Australian Racing , or NZTR for NZ and its clear .
Not sure why BHA are like that , as TBH as an outsider now i still believe uk racing is up there with best , entrance prices bonkers imho but they get decent crowds at times so it dont stop people , but variaty of courses in Eng amd Ire i miss . There always plus and minis in everthing .As in today’s climate, racing seems to brush fatalities under the carpet as if it didn’t happen it seems to me. The sport doesn’t help itself in a hell of a lot of matters. It should in my opinion be much more transparent about fatalities and plenty of other matters. Regardless of the anti’s who will always have their say.
To be fair to Kelso it was ladies day and looked pretty busy, very much a festive family day out( thankfully wasn’t there and didn’t watch it on WHill as Wise Eagle was in the race).My son asked me to take my granddaughter racing when she went through her pony phase but I refused, saying I was worried that she might witness a fatality. One of my first visits to a raceourse was when Kingsmill had a fatal fall in front of me at Aintree and I nearly walked away from the sport, I was so upset. I think fatalities and injuries are publicised more than they used to be as I used to take my daughter and her friends racing without worrying; I was pretty ignorant about fatalities back then ( pre internet). Difficult to get the balance right, I guess. Need to acknowledge what has happened without putting people off having a day at the races as it is probably the most family friendly of sports.
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