- This topic has 159 replies, 37 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 4 months ago by
.
- Posts
Like Marlingford, I didn’t see any bias either.
A spate of full-good anecdotes in response just doesn’t cut it, I’m afraid.
Racing is in denial if it thinks there isn’t a problem.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"You didn’t see any bias ID as they wasn’t any. I was interested to read Mark Johnstones thoughts until he ‘fell in to ranks’ and stated it was all “blown out of all proportion”.
BUY THE SUN
My preferences are the reverse way round to yours Tatling, but totally with you that National Hunt racing needs to be renamed, and have said so on here in the past.
We didn’t learn anything from the programme about the proportions of horses going to slaughter from Jumps/Flat backgrounds, just that some horses from Jumps yards were highlighted. I’m sure the Flat has its own dirty secrets with all those young horses that never make it to the racecourse. Most of the issues highlighted last night weren’t Jumps or Flat specific, they were racing issues.
A fair point Marlingford. Elliotts idiocy gave ample opportunity for the programme to specifically target a certain demographic of the sport.
But said demographic does not help itself, at all. And if it was cancelled altogether I wouldn’t miss it too much. They have let it become all being about a single week in March anyway.
BUY THE SUN
This comment is not directed at anyone here but I wonder how many racing fans actually contribute to charities like Greatwood? Or remember them in their wills? I suspect it is not that many. If more did, they would be far better placed to rehome former racehorses.
Without wanting to get political charity is not a satisfactory way of funding anything.
Anything voluntary is avoided by the callous and insufficient funding is raised as a result.
A device EVERYONE who is a consumer of the racing product on some level is compelled to pay towards would be far more effective.
It could be funded by: 1. the Levy via a tiny increase in overall bookmaker margins/exchange commission rates, 2. there could be an owners aftercare surcharge, taking the issue out of their hands, 3. a small increase in racecourse admission prices.
Racing/BHA could then introduce its compulsory adoption of all retired racehorses whose owners wanted rid and could then take responsibility for what happens to them all.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Aye CAS, I should give a tenner a month direct debit so these multi millionaires have less of an excuse to act like heartless scum.
BUY THE SUN
Tonge, please see below:
“Many things jumped out at me as being so incredible that you would think it was impossible for it to have taken place,” said the Middleham trainer, who holds the British record for winners trained.
“The firearms being used did not look like humane killers, and an enclosed room at an abattoir is not the place to use them. It looked like there were two different rifles, one of them looked like a small bore rifle. It’s an extremely dangerous firearm to be using in a setting like that.
“The guy is using it [at one point in the footage] one-handed, holding the horse. The danger to humans is extreme. We’ve seen firearms being used in those conditions and this was passed over as if this was normal. That astonished me.”
On the subject of what happens to his horses when they move on, Johnston said: “The vast, vast majority are sold on to do another job, many of them remaining in racing. Nowadays, a high percentage of the females are going into the breeding industry. The majority of ours go to the sales if they’re not retired to the breeding industry and an awful lot do enter other jobs. I think we’re blowing this out of proportion. There is not a major animal welfare issue in the UK and of the issues there are, horses would be a small percentage. Of the animal welfare issues in horses, thoroughbreds would be a tiny percentage but clearly it’s good for selling tabloid newspapers and sensationalist TV programmes.”
BUY THE SUN
Just watched it. I didn’t think it was particularly sensationalist apart from the doom-y music. The Animal Aid guy didn’t seem like a nutball ranter at all. They gave the trainers the right to reply and they did show Gordon Elliott and Michael O’Leary being nice to horses at one point.
I thought the abattoir workers seemed to handle the horses quite calmly and steadily. I didn’t agree with the vet who said the horse looked terrified (I thought apprehensive but not terrified…and bear in mind some of these individuals were considered temperamentally unsuited to rehoming). Of course she could have been commenting on a longer piece of footage not shown. I agreed with pretty much everything else she said especially about the horse with the non weight bearing injury.
Some things were good- the fact that the abattoir were previously fined for transporting an injured animal means the vet (or somebody) picked up on it and reported it. They were also hot enough to pick up on the dodgy documentation but 40 in a few weeks is a lot, especially if due to fraudulent scumbaggery (as the not-Tammys-Hill horse appeared to be ) rather than genuine mistakes. I wonder there is no mechanism in place for automatically putting an abattoir in special measures if they don’t get their supply lines sorted out. And also wonder if the Irish suppliers think it’s easier to get fraudlent scumbaggery past in England than in the Irish abattoir. Why else pay to put a lorry on the ferry?
I was pretty shocked by the rifle. That’s dangerous and far too high a chance of the horse moving or throwing its head up. What the hell happens if they have a half-shot horse staggering around that concrete pen? How on earth could they quickly, safely and humanely follow up if it went wrong? It smacks of corner- cutting and “sure we’ve always done it this way”. I am very surprised they didn’t have a kill box with the slaughterman up above the level of the horse and a dropaway side.
I wonder how the not-Tammy’s-Hill horse came to be carrying two chips. I wonder if there was some scumbag working at the racecourse, driving the deadstock lorry or working at the rendering plant digging chips out of dead horses and stealing or copying accompanying passports, the stash of chips being sold to be planted in ex English racehorses destined for slaughter, or any horse of the right colour and approximate age who had once received bute and thus was ineligible for human consumption. Where there’s money to be made scumbags will always find a way of making it, legal or not, so the powers that be have to be able to detect and stop the scumbaggery and it’s not just the FSA’s responsibility. Racing has to help.
Surely the over breeding/ production of racehorses needs looking in to? It’s not healthy, and surely isn’t improving the breed?
Thinking aloud; a limit on the number of coverings a stallion can make in a season? A % fee for every covering towards a rehousing/retraining of ex-racehorses. The breeders are producing too many horses, maybe they should help towards a solution.
I really don’t know, probably unworkable, but the status quo surely can’t go on.It’s supply and demand.
You can’t accuse breeders of overproducing if they are simply meeting demand.
BUT, bring in a statutory requirement to provide lifelong after career after career and demand for horses will inevitably drop.
The answer lies in the BHA and HRI taking direct responsibility for the welfare of horses and either placing the blanket onus on owners or bringing in charging devices for all stakeholders from owners to punters to fund this and implementing this themselves.
I am "The Horse Racing Punter" on Facebook
https://mobile.twitter.com/Ian_Davies_
https://www.facebook.com/ThePointtoPointNHandFlatracingpunter/
It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Surely the over breeding/ production of racehorses needs looking in to? It’s not healthy, and surely isn’t improving the breed?
I’ve said this numerous times on different threads: we don’t need five or six tracks on a Saturday afternoon, we already have too much racing on a Sunday and at least 50% of the horses bred are destined for Class 5 or 6 races, if they make the track at all.
Owning a racehorse should be very expensive and I know that the French (I think is the France Galop site), and please correct me if I’m wrong, require a certain annual income from the owner for horses owned in the Paris region or the Province. It could be at around 35k for the latter and 75k per year for Paris. I don’t know exactly where the money would go after the career is over, but you should be required to show some funds, if wanting to own a horse.
Stallions covering too many, and then falling out of favour is definitely a problem. You might be surprised at how hard it is to sell a really nice horse by the ‘wrong’ sire. Demand doesn’t come into it, and people don’t even get bids. Given that Panorama mentioned very few owners and trainers, how many of the 4k horses came direct from sales or pre-training yards? Prior to being named or returned in training, it would be hard to pin an animal to a particular individual, although change is supposed to be coming in that regard. It would be interesting to see the list.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.