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Two horses killed today in the same race. I’ve always loved NH racing, but am becoming uncomfortable with the death toll. Perhaps it is time to reconsider the risks.
Very sad to hear this befair; this is an issue I struggle with too. We should not forget these less well-known horses amidst the glories of Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle today.
Which two horses were lost please? I had a quick look at the Racing Post race reports, but could not figure it out.
Nor me Marlingford. Only found out that the meeting had been abandoned through trying to find out about the fatalities. A suspicious person might think that the conditions were a factor, that the meeting should have been abandoned earlier and the authorities are trying to play it down
Two horses suffered fatal injuries in the same race at Sedgefield earlier in the season. This caused the remainder of the meeting to be abandoned.
An inspection found no problem with the track but it was decided some work should be completed on the turn into the home straight. This caused some meetings (including the popular Boxing Day fixture) to be transferred to Newcastle.
Yet despite this work there were more fatalities at the track today.
Does this show there is a problem with Sedgefield? Or – more likely – show that jumps racing will always carry an element of risk?
I am not quite sure what Befair means by “Perhaps it is time to reconsider the risks.”
But if it means the risks are too great in jumps racing and it should be reviewed or even stopped, what about Flat racing? Bad injuries and fatalities happen there as well.No doubt there are statistics somewhere. It would be interesting to see what the runner to fatality ratio is this season in comparison to others. Presumably the BHA’s website will have something.
“That the meeting should have been abandoned earlier.”
There was no reason to abandon the meeting earlier. The conditions were perfectly clear and raceable, although I doubt it was pleasant riding in the fourth race when the sleet started.
The sleet/snow only started to fall heavily and stick on the ground before the start of the fifth race, when the decision was taken to abandon.
The link shows the fatality rate for jumps racing going back to the early 2000s.
In 2022 it was 0.43%. This is a slight increase. It had reached a low of 0.41% a few years earlier. But it is an improvement on the first decade of the 21st century, when it was around the 0.49% mark.
Of course we would all like it to be zero but we have to be realistic. At least the figure has improved and I am sure the BHA is doing all it can to make it better still.
Thanks CAS, I will have a further look at the data later. Back to today, I can’t find any mention of fatalities at Sedgefield on Twitter. Hopefully befair will return to advise where the information came from.
On the other hand, Malinello’s sad death at Cheltenham is very prominent. The RSPCA seem to be taking an increasingly anti-racing stance, and say they “will be discussing it with the BHA”.
I cannot help but be a little cynical as to why Malinello’s death seems to be in greater need of individual discussion than other deaths at less high-profile meetings.
I’m afraid I don’t share your confidence in the BHA CAS. A lot of tinkering but no appetite to address underlying issues such as breeding and changes in training methods. Also the increased risk to horses ridden by inexperienced jockeys. This amateurs’ chase has no place in the showcase for UK jump racing. The fall in fatalities is far less than would be expected given the advances in veterinary medicine and, as you say, actually increased last year. Of course the risk will always be there but I don’t believe the BHA is doing all it could do, if it looked at the overall picture, to reduce it.
There are amateurs and there are amateurs – the difference in calibre between the best and worst amateur riders is far greater than the difference between the best and worst professionals.
Gina Andrews is very talented – the winningmost lady Point jockey ever and won the Aintree Foxhunters last season.
Looking at the other riders in todays NH Chase, there is a wealth of talent there and many of them would be better than many professionals – and nearly all Conditionals – in my book.
Ditto Thursday’s Kim Muir – host of talented riders from both sides of the Irish Sea.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Sorry everyone, my mistake; when looking up results on ATR, I read that Sedgefield had been abandoned, with no reason given; googled it, and under the News section it reported two deaths. I jumped to a conclusion without noticing the date, 3-11-22.
Mea culpaThanks befair, I am relieved it was crossed wires
I do think Tonge has a point re the National Hunt Chase. If you were designing the Cheltenham programme afresh now, there is no way that a long-distance chase restricted to novices with amateur riders aboard would be chosen. It is just asking for trouble.
Despite changes to its conditions, the race still seems to have more than its share of problems. The race has a rich history, and I don’t want to lose it entirely, but I’d turn it into a veterans’ chase for professional jockeys or something like that.
As stated, the riders in today’s race are amateurs in name only, Marlingford – they’re better than various professionals in my book.
If there’s an issue, it’s the race being a Novices’ Chase over 3m6f – but the winner was placed in the Irish National LAST season….he’s a novice in name only too!
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Any time you are asking half a tonne of racehorse galloping at 30mph to jump an obstacle there is a risk, the fact that the fatality rate is less than 0.50% when you consider the number of horses in training and the number of races run (both flat and jumps) is quite frankly amazing – the only way to stop having racehorse fatalities is to stop breeding racehorses period and that isn’t a place I want to be.
Would be interested to see if there is any evidence/correlation on horse fatalities and inexperienced riders…I would hazard a guess that there isn’t much based on the fact that the majority of racing that has fatalities in it are horses being ridden by more experienced jockeys.
Fyi, safety concerns due to snow was the reason for Sedgefield’s abandonment. Condolences to all connections of those two horses that were lost, especially the two grooms who had to go back home in a likely empty horse box and then deal with an empty stable stall back at the yard.
Agree that amateur does not mean inexperienced – the Maryland Hunt Cup is restricted to amateurs and the quality of riding is as good or better than in any Grade 1 I’ve seen.
I don’t think there’s any one factor that would stop all race fatalities. I saw a horse flip over in the paddock and suffer a fatal injury before a race (Coal Dust). The great Senior Senator died from colic in the midst of the cancelled 2020 spring season. We can try to breed sounder animals, eliminate the usage of certain medications known to interfere with bone growth in young horses, scratch any horse when they aren’t 100% fit, have jockeys pull up tired horses instead of forcing them on, manage the turf as well as we can, thoroughly school horses over fences and teach them to be careful with their feet, among other things, but some things are up to fate.
“Condolences to all connections of those two horses that were lost.”
LD – Befair has clarified no horses were lost at Sedgefield.
Tonge – I do not have much confidence in most of the things the BHA does either! But I do believe it is working hard to make racing safer. And the stats show it is safer (at least in terms of fatalities) when compared to the first decade of this century.
Re the National Hunt Chase. I have no problem with the race being for amateur riders – but the word amateur is a problem. It conjures up images of gentlemen adventurers like the Duke of Alberquerque, whereas most of the jockeys (especially from Ireland) are accomplished riders.
I am not sure what word should be used instead but maybe it is something for the authorities to think about.
The issue I have with the race is I am not sure what purpose it serves now. It is just a slightly longer version of the Brown Advisory.
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