These horses are not jumping for joy, but for survival, and the roar of the Cheltenham crowd leads to the silence of the stables.
For some horses, the glamour of the gallop is the glamour of the gallows.
March’s celebration of speed is quite the condemnation of greed.
“I used to go horse racing myself until I saw a horse die in front of me.”
The harrowing words of Animal Aid’s Rob Hopkins when I spoke to him on Cheltenham High Street this Tuesday.
Cheltenham Tuesday’s High Street was encapsulated by a vibrant buzz of excitement. The bookies’ signs flashing odds, champagne flutes clinking, pints being poured in ram-packed pubs, and tweed suits crowding the street. The air hummed with anticipation as the atmosphere grew.
There was just one group that stood static. Amongst the “free bet” signs and finding the “best odds” there was a simple juxtaposition to the signs they were holding. The signs were simple and handmade, with no flashy lights, just meaningful words.
It was Animal Aid.
I asked Rob what kind of response he and his humble protestors had received so far, he said, “It hadn’t been too bad” and that “people had been quite nice.”
However, it was early in the day, and towards lunchtime, they would “get more drunk people who would be unhappy with them being here.”
At least the unhappy people would have seen the signs and not just had their heads buried in their six-foot-deep 10-fold betting accumulators on Paddy Power, William Hill, or Bet365.
But how dare they be “unhappy.”
I expect they would be more unhappy to be euthanized on a track and rolled off in time for the next race so a bet slip has a chance of being handed back to the bookies in exchange for money to buy another drink.
The physical dangers horses face during a high-speed race are huge. These dangers increase as hurdles and fences are presented throughout the track. As you can imagine, Cheltenham Festival, ‘The Home of Jump Racing’, is known for such obstacles.
After the fine horses Corbetts Cross and Springwell Bay were killed today on Gold Cup Day, the death toll of the event has risen to 78 horses since the year 2000. On a broader scale than just the Gloucestershire-based event, over 3000 horses have died due to jump racing since 2001.
Behind the glossy marketing industry lies a reality of suffering and abuse. Cheltenham Festival, the biggest stage, is just the first stride in a steeplechase of challenges.
The Cheltenham Festival is celebrated as one of the most prestigious events in the United Kingdom. The popularity it generates is immense. Drugs are used to mask the pain or enhance the performance of horses. Intense training regimes start when the horses are just foals. Horses run into a state of exhaustion under the pressure to race repeatedly in a short period.
In an industry that prioritizes profit over the well-being of animals, Hopkins was clear that people need to “change what they are doing.”
So, as the winners drink in glory and the crowds disperse, the real cost of the festival is swept away.
For some, lives end before the finish line.
