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HORSE RACING FACTSHEETEvery year around 300 racehorses die on British courses as a result of fatal falls, serious injury or heart attacks. The racing industry also disposes of thousands of horses, whose fate is undocumented. What lies behind this industry where horses are literally forced to run for their lives? THE TYPES OF RACING AND NUMBERS OF HORSES INVOLVED
Racing takes place six or seven days a week, with two or more meetings a day, consisting of six races per meeting. There are three main types of event:
FLAT RACING Most horses start flat racing - sprinting along a course without fences - at the age of two, some three years before they are fully mature. Owners race them early because they are impatient to get a return on their buying, upkeep and training expenditures. This is despite the fact that racing places an enormous strain on under-developed limbs. Tendon and ligament damage are endemic. As three year olds, the very few horses who possess speed, ability and stud potential will contest the Classics and other valuable races. Slower horses will run in handicaps and selling races. At the latter, they can be disposed of to different owners and trainers. NATIONAL HUNT RACING Those lacking the ability to run fast enough on the flat go into national hunt racing at the end of their second year of competition. Males are 'gelded' (see 'Mutilations') so that they lose interest in females and to prevent painful injuries caused by knocking against fences. All national hunt courses have both hurdle and chase (fence) tracks. Hurdle races are contested by younger horses than those who jump the larger chase fences. Hurdles are 42 inches high. When a horse's leg hammers into a hurdle at speed, the result can be a shattered limb or a fall, which can lead to a broken neck or back. In addition to the intolerable physical pain, victims may suffer the mental anguish of not being able to understand what has happened to them. All horses with broken limbs or backs are 'destroyed'. The trained eye can easily recognise a seriously injured animal. Before they are shot on the course, they are surrounded by a green screen so as to conceal their fate from viewers. After being killed, they are winched up into the back of the knackerman's horsebox. Horses who survive to the age of six face a new challenge. They 'progress' to chasing, first in what are called novice races. This involves jumping over the same fences as are put before older and more experienced animals - a particularly dangerous test since the fences are 12 inches higher and have less give in them than those used in hurdle competition. The notorious Aintree and Cheltenham fences can be likened to jumping a brick wall. There are portable fences with some give in them at Doncaster and Edinburgh where a horse can brush through the top and escape a fall. It is the sheer variety of courses combined with the inexperience of many of the horses that cause so many falls, injuries and fatalities. At the end of the 1998 National Hunt season, 230 horses perished on the courses. This figure excludes flat and point-to-point racing deaths. POINT-TO-POINT RACING The close relationship between fox hunting and horse racing is not generally appreciated. Many older animals take a short break from racing and go hunting to 'sweeten them up'. The hunting fraternity also hold their own race meetings, known as point-to-points - events that are held well away from the public's gaze, and which are notorious for their lack of welfare rules. Horses can carry huge weights, while jumping fences and running for up to three miles. The owners and riders of point-to-point horses with ability can graduate to recognised race courses 'under the rules of racing'. The Christie's Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham and The Martell Fox Hunters' Chase at Aintree's Grand National meeting are the prime objectives among the hunters. VETERINARY PROFESSION
During the race itself, horses are pushed to their limits, suffering consequent exhaustion and physical distress. 55% of flat racehorses and 82% of older horses suffer from exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH), whereby regular and severe bleeding from the lungs occurs during and after racing. Horses' heartbeats can increase tenfold during a race, from a relaxed 25 beats per minute to an excessive 250 beats, again leading to total exhaustion and collapse - and, sometimes, to a potentially fatal heart attack. There is also a heavily funded research programme that is undertaken by veterinary schools and the Animal Health Trust veterinary charity based at the 'racing headquarters' town of Newmarket. Lethal experiments have been conducted upon Welsh mountain ponies and racehorses in testing equine influenza and equine herpes vaccines. Symptoms suffered by these experimental 'models' include paralysis, abortion and neurological disease. MUTILATIONS The veterinary profession also carries out a number of mutilating operations on horses. Castration, known as gelding, is performed on most of the thousands of colts who will race over hurdles and fences. 'Pinfiring' is a painful and crude leg operation, carried out to enable horses with damaged limbs to continue taking the knocks and bruises that arise from jumping fences. The procedure involves inserting red hot needles through the skin to burn the tendons. The idea is that creating scar tissue tightens the skin around the tendon and so gives additional support. This, it is believed, will help prolong the careers of top horses. The other 'firing' method involves placing an electrically-heated metal plate on the outside of the leg to burn the skin. Research suggests that firing, far from working, may actually aggravate existing problems. (The Observer, March 12, 2000) Television racing commentator Jim McGrath has said (The Observer, as above) that firing is so common, 'there's hardly a trainer in this country in whose yard there will not be a horse which has been fired.' Tubing is a hole - larger than a 2 pence piece - surgically cut into a horse's neck, into which a metal breathing tube is then placed. The tube is designed to increase the air intake into the lungs (and thereby performance), with air drawn through and out of the neck - in part bypassing the nose and mouth. This tube clogs with mucus from the horse's throat, causing distress. WHIPPING HORSES The vast majority of jockeys are professional riders and winning for them is paramount. To further this aim, they will whip their horses to make them run faster or to keep them running when exhausted. Racing's governing bodies allow animals to be whipped seven times in the last 200 metres, or from the last fence. Riders who exceed this whipping limit may receive a riding ban of just a day or two. But those who win and are then banned are allowed to keep their prize money, and their win stands in the record books. The 1998 Derby was worth £469,870 to the winning owner; £57,260 to the trainer; and £40,468 to the jockey. The winning rider, Olivier Peslier, was banned for a whip offence after rapidly striking his horse, High-Rise, 12 times. He was reported in the Racing Post as saying, 'I'd do it again'. Not until prizes and winning positions are forfeited will jockeys stop whipping horses. WHO RUNS RACING?
OWNERSHIP OF HORSES Before the 1980s, ownership of racehorses was confined to the rich and to farmers who had a couple of horses on their land and a permit from the Jockey Club to run them. Today, anyone can own a share in a horse for as little as £10 a week. But the industry is still dominated by the big owners - each with hundreds of horses. BREEDING INDUSTRY In 1999, breeders supplied 3,591 two year olds for training. At the same time, a similar number of horses ended their careers and were led to an uncertain future. EMPLOYMENT The horse racing industry indirectly employs hundreds of thousands of people, including jockeys, trainers, stable staff, vets, farriers, feed merchants, bookmakers' staff, horse transporters, racecourse staff, stud farm workers and the racing media. BOOKMAKERS The bookmaking or turf accountant industry also holds substantial, if indirect, power and 'creams off' around 10% of money placed on every horse race. The industry is dominated by what is known as The Big Three: Ladbrokes, Coral and William Hill. There are also numerous smaller, independent bookies and a government-run Tote. Collectively, they promote racing, encourage the public to bet money on horses and simultaneously promote their own 'brands' by sponsoring races carrying their names - i.e. The Ladbroke Handicap Hurdle, The Coral Welsh National, The William Hill Futurity Stakes and The Tote Cheltenham Gold Cup. Virtually no money is put into the welfare of horses from the bookies' pocket. TELEVISION COVERAGE The BBC and Channel 4 broadcast year-round coverage and competitively promote the big races of the season. Despite horse deaths occurring 'live' on screen, they permit no debate. In fact, these fatalities are regarded as being irrelevant to the proceedings. When the 1993 Grand National was declared void, initially due to animal rights protests on the course immediately before the start, there was a policy of non-recognition of the protests. WHEN RACING IS OVER Horses who survive serious injury can be expected to run at least a dozen races a year until they reach the age of 13. The fortunate minority may then be retired to decent grazing. Many, however, are owned by businesses, syndicates, or individuals who refuse to provide for animals who can no longer deliver a day's fun or the possibility of a financial return. Documentary evidence of what happens to retired race horses is sketchy, but critics within the industry claim that provision for a suitable retirement is all but non-existent. Some animals have been discovered weak, emaciated and forgotten; many more are slaughtered for pet food. |
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During
1999 there were 16,700 horses in training at 675 establishments. The majority
were two and three years old. 
The
veterinary profession has never spoken out meaningfully against horse racing.
At every event, there is a vet on hand to check horses' 'passports' (a device
to prevent cheating) and to administer minor treatment to injuries. They also
'destroy' horses who break limbs, backs or are otherwise seriously injured.
There
are two governing bodies that run racing: The Jockey Club and the British Horseracing
Board (BHB). They are interconnected, self-regulating bodies concerned with
making and upholding the rules of racing, planning and disciplinary action.
They do little to decrease horse fatalities on British race courses. And it
is these two bodies which oversee the lax regulations governing whipping. 
