- This topic has 15 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by
.
- Posts
… talking about the circumstances surrounding (the two) racecourse fatalities.
I think this a huge step to make racing more transparent even from it’s darker side. Better than just keeping quiet and maybe not mentioning them at all.
It has been a very bad Sunday with a total of four fatalities in two major races.
RIP to all of them.
“Better than just keeping quiet and maybe not mentioning them at all.”
It probably is. I’m not sure how much better the transparency helps the sport though. I’d say it hinders it. But you are right, it is impossible to overlook or sweep under the carpet.
You have to wonder how the ITV exec feel about ITV1 showcasing racing when they have coverage like today’s.
Cormack
The press are picking up on it. Only the “Daily Mirror” so far, which is traditionally quite supportive of racing. Its article is factual and balanced.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/cheltenham-horse-dies-itv-race-34128597
However, I agree with Cormack. In our hyper sensitive social media age, there has to be a question about how much longer ITV will be content to broadcast racing and will companies want to buy advertising slots?
To say nothing at all would have been much worse, especially considering the cameras were on the horse live as the horse collapsed – ITV have been proactive in the past with getting a vet’s perspective and for me it is 1000% the right thing to do especially considering the fact he explained that checks would have been done prior to the race and that this is what can happen with elite athletes in competition was also important to mention.
Yes this will be fodder for that vocal minority but the industry (ITV by extension) simply has to keep responding in a similar manner when these incredibly sad incidents happen – it is part and parcel of racing but whereever possible all the very best medical care and attention is afforded to these magnificent animals to make it as safe as possible without being able to give a 100% guarantee (which is never possible, even in general life as a horse can just as easily suffer the same fate/injuries happily galloping around in the safety of its own paddock).
Sensationalising and inaccurate reporting must be combated at all levels and in this particular incident it was done, lets hope this type of response is carried over to other areas that in the past have been sorely lacking.
Whenever there is bad news for racing, it is guaranteed the BBC will pick up on it. Although its article isn’t sensationalist, thankfully.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/articles/cqxwd5q2lwpo
A horrible, depressing day with at least five equine deaths by the look of things, though I haven’t seen anything official re the two in the Troytown as yet.
The transparency is both welcome and necessary in my view though. If we cannot be honest about the sport then it cannot be justified, and if every day were like today then I could not justify it.
I really felt for the ITV team, and agree they handled the sad events well.
The Unholy Alliance of the “Daily Mail” and “The Guardian” have both got hold of the story now. I believe it has been on ITV News and Sky News as well.
Just been on the BBC news. They only named one of the horses…Abuffalosoldier. If they are that bothered that they feel they have to report these deaths then at least name all the horses who suffered the fatalities.
Pretty obs after today’s tragic events that the Antis would be out in force.
ITV have terrestrial rights and it’s a major story on the ITN news right now, so ITV arent ‘hiding’.
The attempts to ban horse racing outright will increase. Once Joe and Joanne Public come on board (rather than just the usual animal rights crowd), racing’s time will be (almost) up, i fear.
There will be OUTRAGE for a day or two then everything will go back to normal before Cheltenham pullouts and Grand National sweepstake kits appear in those same papers next spring.
The general public (not the vocal minority that wait for incidents like this to happen) will by and large move on to something else in a day or so or less (assuming that they will have actually registered the events at Cheltenham in the first place, as many don’t access the news via papers and TV anymore). Most in general are disinterested/apathetic to the sport outside of the Grand National
The industry has to stop prefacing their actions/strategies based on the public perception as I do think it is massively overplayed as a reason to make changes for appeasements sake….because that group that they are trying to placate don’t want racing to exist in any way shape or form.
For those that do want racing banned for good – I would love to ask them just exactly what do they think would happen to the lives of tens of thousands of racehorses that would suddenly have no reason for being?
All the arguments put forward above against the anti-racing brigade are absolutely right. I agree with LD that there is still a large centre ground that is sympathetic to racing’s position, rather than to the outspoken anti brigade so vocal on social media.
The problem is, I think that centre ground is gradually getting smaller. The arguments racing has about the fatality rate being 0.4% are becoming less easy to make in an environment where emotion, feelings and “my truth” is considered more important than facts and objective reality.
The arguments also don’t really address Cormack’s point. Will the senior management at ITV want to continue broadcasting racing when the sport had days like it did yesterday and which has generated a lot of negative headlines. Will advertisers still be satisfied?
I don’t want ITV to walk away from racing when its contract ends. I believe exposure on terrestrial television is hugely beneficial for racing and for betting turnover. But I could understand why ITV might be nervous about renewing, especially after a day like yesterday which generated such a lot of negative publicity.
Yesterday was a bad day. Hopefully everyone on this forum feels this. ITV handled it well. Grotesque as it sounds, I suspect many of the TV execs will see the potential danger as a positive.
ITV will continue broadcasting racing as long as advertisers continue to subscribe. Most of ITV Racing’s advertisers are bookmakers who will continue to support regardless. However, if the backlash is sufficient to persuade government to ban TV advertising by bookmakers, ITV will no longer be interested. Without terrestrial free-to-air broadcasting, racing will die off.
Many years ago I recall a jockey (can’t remember which one) saying that the moment after the winning post and before the media circus began was a special moment when the jockey could bond with the horse and also assess the physical impact of the race. I’ve always hated these jockey interviews as they pull up and never more than now. I doubt that Bowen would have picked up Abuffalosoldier’s problem if he hadn’t been chatting with Plunkett, or that it would have made any difference if he had but we’ll never know. The horse didn’t look to be hyperventilating and it wasn’t a warm day but at every other course they would be at least chucking buckets of water over the winner. Assume they didn’t bother for fear of hitting Alice. Immediate post race interviews presents an avoidable risk. You’d hope that capturing the death of such a gallant horse on live TV would put a stop to it but I doubt it will. Bread and circuses…
“Many years ago I recall a jockey (can’t remember which one) saying that the moment after the winning post and before the media circus began was a special moment when the jockey could bond with the horse and also assess the physical impact of the race. I’ve always hated these jockey interviews as they pull up”
This a thousand times. Here is my favourite ever “how does it feel??” moment of a jockey pulling up a winning horse- you can see how it feels, he didn’t need a presenter yapping at him to “put it into words”.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.