Horse Racing: The Death Toll Continues to Rise in the UK

Published July 20, 2009 @ 05:08PM PT

Four horses died just this past weekend during races in the UK, Animal Aid reports:

Their deaths received no mention in the newspaper racing columns and would remain hidden were it not for Animal Aid’s online database, Deathwatch.

On Saturday 18 July at Market Rasen, seven-year-old Falpiase and six-year-old Stellenbosch both pulled up lame and were subsequently destroyed. Newton Abbot, which featured in Animal Aid’s second Deathwatch report for having the greatest number of Thoroughbred fatalities out of all 60 British racecourses, saw two more horses killed on Sunday’s ‘Family Day’. Olay Olay, a nine-year-old gelding, severed a tendon and was destroyed. Heathfield Flyer, another gelding of the same age, finished his race, but the subsequent discovery of an injury meant that he was also killed.

Even more disturbing is the online database mentioned, which I linked to in some earlier posts on horse racing. Visit the Death Watch page; you may find your fingers starting to tire from scrolling before you get through even the 2009 deaths alone.

And on an unrelated note, please forgive the continued light posting. I've run into a really frustrating problem with the hotel Internet connection that is interfering with even basic browsing and page loading, and it's taking me hours to accomplish what I should be able to do in 15 minutes. The posting schedule around here will get back to normal as soon as I'm back in St. Louis.

Share this Post

Comments (1)

How cowardly of the racing officials not to post news of the horse deaths they caused!

Thank you, Animal Aid, for exposing the sad stats on this deadly sport.

Posted by Olivia White on 07/23/2009 @ 08:09PM PT
- Report close
  You must be signed in to report content.
- Reply
- Like
For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment. In the process we will also create a Change.org account for you so you can track this and future conversations. Don't worry - we won't spam you. We just want to promote constructive dialogue and find that people are more respectful when they are not anonymous.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

reply to thread started by by Olivia
Check Spelling
- Email me when there are new posts to this thread
- Comment Policy
Cancel Reply

Add a Comment

For your comment to be published, you will need to confirm your email address after submitting your comment.

If you already have an account, click here to log in.

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:

Create Password:

Comment

Check Spelling

Email me when there are new posts to this thread
Comment Policy

Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in the posts. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; that contain ad hominem attacks; or that are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion.

Author

Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.