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Does it happen so acutely anywhere else in life? One moment cruising along, jumping fluently, looking full of potential, years of enjoyment ahead for connections; then suddenly a horrible fall, obviously fatal.
Really sad story befair and it’s one reason that I sit back a bit more during the jumps season on this forum.
Also remembering how we lost Vautour last year, not even on a racecourse, a beautiful talented horse loved and at his peak gone forever, I still can’t believe he is not with us anymore.
It is the most sickening sight ever to see a horse lose its life in this way and I shiver to think that someone somewhere in a betting shop(or at home) might actually have cheered when he fell.
Sadly for Mega Fortune his time had come, to soon and he will be missed.
RIP Lovely Boy
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Love the jumps but as Jac points out the death toll in jumps racing can be at times alarming.
In the defence you can say that these horses are given the absolute best care and attention that they wouldn’t get anywhere else. And they do something that they love doing. But yes it’s incredibly sad when these horses pass and it’s inevitable that plenty more horses will fall and die during the course of the jumps season- some of them will be some of our favourites
I feel comfortably with the risk factor, and would much rather see a return to stiffer fences – don’t have figs more I’m guessing steeplechasing is no safer than 40 years ago. What however I do feel uncomfortable with is the wastage,where perfectly healthy horses end up in abattoirs. It’s no good saying, ‘aaah it’s probably the kindest thing for them, you don’t know whose hands they could end up in’.Surely racing has a duty of care and the money is around somewhere. For each animal fortunate enough to end up at the re-training schools, a multiple number must just disappear without trace.
Not only that, Cancello, but there is an enormous unseen population we never hear about. An alarming stat came out when Coolmore sold Canford Cliffs abroad – less than 35% of his progeny were sound and correct enough to stand training.
What happens to the duds and the wonky foals? There is a terrible amount of wastage in this game. I think the sport will suffer in a big way when Dean Stanstall or one of his crowd gets wise to it and exposes that uncomfortable truth.
@LS3
Totally agree and I think those of us that have been following racing for a number of years already know that sad fact.I remember going to a top trainers open day quite a few years ago and we were being shown the top stars in the stable. My friend and I broke from the tour and walked to the back of the yard where there were many stables and we heard neighing. What we saw was not pretty. There were no names on the stables and many confirmation problems obvious. Looking back I now think/know that these horses were waiting for the knackers man to call
and it still leaves me feeling concerned that this is still an on going process in a sport that strives for perfection and that so many horses can get lost in the system so easily.I love the sport but this makes me feel uncomfortable as I also care about the welfare of horses and I would welcome any investigation to stop this happening.
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Years ago Mike said he’d seen a huge lorry full of horses that was probably going abroad. Even though I didn’t see it myself the image of it haunts me.
The notion of animal cruelty is a belief based on a fundamentally unsound principle.
From the very first moment on this earth that the human animal killed the wild animal in order to survive a battle for supremacy began. Nature, if you like, determined that humans won and consequently humans have literally had control over whether or not animals are born and if and when they die. What could be more cruel than this?
Therefore, a person who truly advocates animal rights would be someone willing to accept being eaten by a lion as they walked down the street. I don’t suppose any activists would welcome that (unless they were mentally ill).
Over, I think, the last couple of hundred years or so, as the world has become more civilised, a movement concerned about how humans treat other animals has developed, however, its argument is inherently hypocritical.
It should have been ignored. Set in its proper context of the global ocean of cruelty and mistreatment (the ultimate extent of which is death) to humans (and other animals) the focus upon the deaths of racehorses is hugely disproportionate. The resources spent on laws and other measures in response to the outrage of the RSPCA, etc would be better allocated to, for example, trying to eradicate war, poverty, disease, famine, short life expectancy, high rate of infant mortality, …
If you think I’m a callous ******* ask yourself what would you do if a racehorse galloping at speed was about to run over you and kill you and you had a gun.
there is an enormous unseen population we never hear about.
Indeed, the number of raced 2yos who don’t reappear as 3yos being one that, as far as I’m aware, has dared not speak its name
Deaths on the racecourse or gallops, unpleasant though they are, I can live with by invoking the worn and dubious rationalizations: ‘died doing something they love’ ‘lived in 5-star luxury’ ‘doted on by their lad/lass’ blah blah
Watching a horse die whilst providing us with inconsequential entertainment is a character-building exercise
Just hearing on the news about the young boxer who died during his first fight, he was just 22, and your words ring true Drone throughout the whole sporting spectrum.
He was apparently doing very well but a fatal blow took the young mans life and a promising career, desperately sad.
JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Agree LS3 – animal aid pepper their hypothesis with some nonsense eg,creating a supposed link between a national hunt horse dropping dead on the gallops, to the fact that there is a sprinter appearing twice in the fourth generation of its pedigree.This then taints even the authentic points which they raise.
It’s worrying that they are close to being on the ball with the wastage factor, and if (or when) they polish up their act, they could produce a damning indictment. Would be even more effective if they produced it in conjunction with a national newspaper – and don’t think it could not happen. Even the so called ‘patriotic and traditional’ Daily Mail is not adverse to putting the knife into the sport.
As with breeders destroying unsound foals,I don’t think a credible argument can be made to reverse that.Though they can try to ensure that they are dispatched in a more humane way than having to wait for days inside a grim slaughterhouse. What I’m sure would disturb many,would be the revelation that thousands of healthy, manageable horses, who have received red carpet treatment, are suddenly condemned to death (ooops,sounds a bit too much like activist speak) because they cannot run fast enough.
The racing authorities with the help of the televison media create a pretty front cover for the sport. They like to give horses human characteristics,and in true Stalinist style,rewrite historical facts. Remember before this years Grand National, they had a few ex jockeys sitting around a table discussing their experiences. They came to Jonjo, and asked him if he ever had a chance of winning the race.I was expecting something like ‘ Alverton was thrown in at the weights after his Gold Cup win. He was lobbing along approaching second Bechers. I know they said he broke his neck but I was sure he was dead before hitting the ground- maybe a heart attack. I swear to this day we would have won’. But instead, gagged by the producers (‘ you know how it is now with the image we need for the sport‘,they probably told him ), his reply was something like, no,I was never lucky enough to have a mount with a chance of winning.
The ‘Grand National In Name Only Chase’ is to me a new race, formed from pandering to noisy minorities. I think soon they may have wished they had stood their ground and kept the race as the test it was,BUT had tackled the wastage problem with horses coming out of training as this will sometime soon blacken the image of the sport in the eyes of the honey fed general public.
My problem with horses [and racehorses in particular] is the way that, unlike most animals [other than say, cats and dogs]they have human contact right from the start of their lives because it is vital that they have a bond with humans. So it seems a betrayal to suddenly cast them out because they aren’t good enough. On the other hand, I don’t understand the logic of animal rights fanatics who would live in a world devoid of animals if they had their way. But I also can’t comprehend the way that, in this country especially, we breed from unsound stock. Princess Anne probably got it right when she said horses would be better cared for if they were part of the food chain; I guess we anthropomorphise horses more than most other animals. Always a dilemma for people like me who live for racing but get terribly upset when bad things happen.
Lovely post Moe and mirroring my thoughts exactly especially your last statement.
I’ll never stop getting upset over the loss of any horse and of course there are those that touch your heart more than others but within the sport of Kings more must be done to help horses who do not fit the criteria, the few organisations that do exist are oversubscribed and they do a fantastic job.
A lovely story of triumph over adversity is that of a filly called Samanda blinded in a terrible accident as a foal but saved as a broodmare by a man called Colin Dive who worked at the then 18th Earl of Derby’s Woodland Stud. She went on to have 10 foals with 9 of them winners and one filly called Ouija who later foaled Selection Board sent to Cape Cross and the result was the outstanding mare Ouija Board now a mother of champions herself.
There seems very little that we as individuals can do to help the growing number of unsuitable horses that disappear each year unless someone dives into this nasty can of worms and dishes it up to the powers that be.
I hope it happens soon..JacThings turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...
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