The Cheltenham races are well and truly underway, the streets are filled with excitement and celebration. Everyone’s looking at which horses they should be betting on? Who’s got the best odds? And where’s the closest bar? But is it more than just fools and horses?
Behind one of Cheltenham’s biggest money makes and a historical event that happens every year, there’s a dark reality that hides behind the hooves of these horses.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe brutal reality of horse racing is that a lot of these horses are treated unfairly and are put through very poor conditions. Animal rising activist Orla Coghlan revealed some of the treacherous circumstances that these horses find themselves in.
“I think the fact that a horse dies every other day on average on the British race tracks and most people don’t really know that and in the horse racing industry they say they treat these horses like kings.
I think that up until the year 2020 that half of the horses that were going to slaughterhouses had racing passports. Since then it’s become illegal but that’s actually quite a short time ago”
Unfortunately for a lot of horses that take part in these major races they are discarded and put to the side which is the reality for a lot of top racing horses which is incredibly heartbreaking to hear.
The first day of races were filled with excitement and positivity ahead of the first few events. However, just like previously mentioned with horse racing, tragedy isn’t far behind. In the third race Highland Hunter died after being injured in the final stages, with Ose Partir passing away in a fall, three races later.
An emotional farewell to Keagan Kirkby. 💙🤍
— The Jockey Club (@TheJockeyClub) March 9, 2024
His favourite horse in the world, Highland Hunter, led his coffin on Tuesday.
Image Credit: @ppauk pic.twitter.com/IRNw1AdBcs
“We saw two die yesterday, we saw 3 die over the course at the Grand National, it’s the figures it standouts that on average a horse dies every other day.
It’s nothing new it’s been going on for years although the racing industry is pushing out these publicity stunts saying they’re improving things but the figures stay the same the horses continue to die.”
These unfortunate events continue to happen and the risk of animal safety always appears to be in danger when it comes to these major horse racing event, especially with the amount of money that the Cheltenham races bring in, you’d at least hope that they’d be better equipped to deal with the horses safety but alas it continues to be an ongoing issue within the industry.
“It’s a multi-million pound industry and it leads me to question where they’re loyalties lead to lie.”
The humanity and morals have to be questioned of some of these horse trainers and jockeys and if that they realise the danger they put these horses in when they are participating in events like the Cheltenham races.
