Melbourne - ANTI-RACING campaign

www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/anima...i0fit3-1227081852419

ANIMAL welfare activists have launched a huge billboard featuring a dead horse, infuriating the racing industry as the spring racing carnival kicks off.

The 22-metre billboard, on the side of CityLink between Footscray Rd and Racehorse Rd, screams “Is the party really worth it?” as part of the Horse Racing Kills campaign.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has also released graphic footage online of horses being put down, in a bid to highlight what they claimed was an industry “rife with welfare problems”.

But Racing Victoria chief executive Bernard Saundry said the billboard was offensive and distasteful.

“The inference that horse racing kills its equine athletes is misleading and very disappointing for the many people within our industry who have spent the best part of a lifetime caring for horses,” Mr Saundry said.

“The health and wellbeing of our equine athletes is at the heart of our industry and central to the thinking of participants and administrators alike.

“The level of care afforded the industry’s equine athletes is practically unmatched by any other domesticated animal.”

Activists claimed only 300 of every 1000 racehorses made it to the track.

They released “undercover footage” of horses being killed and dragged through pools of blood at “slaughterhouses”.

The Horse Racing Kills campaign called for racegoers to stop spending at the spring carnival and instead donate to their cause.

They said they wanted a “retirement plan for ex-racehorses” and bans on jumps racing, the whip and racing two-year-old horses.

Mr Saundry said the “vast majority” of racehorses were appropriately retired, often through Racing Victoria’s Off The Track program.

“The average fatality rate in Victorian thoroughbred racing is the lowest in world racing,” he said.

“We are working hard to reduce it even further through stricter medication controls, significant investments in improving tracks and training facilities and the funding of major research studies.”

tom.minear@news.com.au

you have to laugh at these mugs

i'd like to think racing there is going to reply with some PR positive - state the facts from their side. Some people will believe those stats bandied around of 300 to 1000 and deduct that 700 die horrible deaths.

au.sports.yahoo.com/news/article/-/25424...after-melbourne-cup/

oh dear, hope they have their PR at the ready - the horse was the favourite.



Favourite Admire Rakti collapsed and died after the Melbourne Cup, adding a sad postscript to Australia's greatest race.

As the connections of Protectionist celebrated Germany's first victory in the Cup, Admire Rakti trailed in more than 200 metres behind him, clearly distressed.

The Japanese stallion was trying to match a modern weight-carrying record of 58.5kg in one of the fastest Melbourne Cups ever run.

Sent out as a strong $5.50 favourite, Admire Rakti vied for the lead with My Ambivalent for much of the race.

Jockey Zac Purton, triumphant aboard him in the Caulfield Cup last month, was convinced he was going to repeat that performance.

"The whole way through the run I thought I'd win. I didn't think they'd beat me from where I was," he said.

But with 800 metres to go the horse was not responding and Purton began to have suspicions all was not well.

"I didn't know it was as bad as it was," he said.

As they approached the home turn Admire Rakti was clearly under pressure and then dropped sharply back through the field.

Purton eased him down and virtually walked him over the line, 25 lengths behind the second-last horse, 200-1 outsider Mr O'Ceirin.

He dismounted and as Admire Rakti reached the tie-up stalls he collapsed. Vets pronounced him dead soon after.

"I'm just shattered," Purton said.

"He gave me such a great thrill there at Caulfield. They don't deserve this."

He said the owner Riichi Kondo was also very distraught.

Chief steward Terry Bailey said Racing Victoria vets would conduct an autopsy.

"It's a shame. We had such a nice, clean-run Melbourne Cup," Bailey said.

It is the second consecutive year in which a horse has died in the Cup.

French mare Verema was put down after snapping a canon bone during the 2013 race.

In another post-race incident on Tuesday, seventh-placed Araldo kicked out at a fence on his way back to the mounting yard and injured a hind leg.

He was taken to a veterinary hospital for further treatment.

Early reports said the injury was serious.

The RSPCA said Admire Rakti's death was a stark reminder of the risks to racehorses.

"Sadly, injury and death are the price some horses pay for our entertainment in a sport that puts intense pressure on animals to perform to the limits of their endurance."

Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses spokesman Ward Young said about 125 horses have died during or shortly after Australian races in the past year.

"These events are more common then we would like to believe," he told AAP.

The animal activists are right , sure there are many people that care about the horses but there are even more that don't care . If there was such great care for the beasts then why are so many given steroids and all the other banned substances? And yes many many Thoroughbreds do land up at the abattoir and then all these so called people that CARE eat Vienna`s, polony`s etc ?????


How would you like to be kept in a stall for 23 hours , hardly given any roughage on the pretext that a horse cannot race if it has a lot of roughage. We even have jockeys throwing whips at horses ? Just spend some time at the training centres and many owners would be horrified at how their horses are actually being treated . So sorry until we have much stricter rules which are ENFORCED and breeding is controlled and we have a Breeder / Owner / trainer etc initiative to finance an after racing life ,I do not see the life of thoroughbreds improving.

nobody wants to get the wrong side of animal activists as they take it very seriously. The otherday I put up a thread regarding a jockey stamping on a horse in the starting stall. Only one poster commented. Pretty poor when everybody who races are ' supposedly horse lovers'

stupid kid should be charged. Same as throwing a bottle on to the field, shrieking, or running on the field - I think the same about loud music, shouldn't be allowed near the runners. And big flashes on cameras.
Good on the ARB for speaking out so quickly - dispel negative banter and rather get the facts to spread than beliefs.

Couldn't agree with you more, Debi!

The whole system - no matter how you 'spin' it - is designed to exploit rather than nurture horses. It was, in fact, one of the major reasons that prompted me to stop owning horses. I am ashamed to admit that, despite always seeking a good home for 'used up' racehorses, I made little or no effort to follow up on their welfare thereafter. I am as guilty as the rest of the industry.

You can safely take just about any aspect of the production/training/racing system and battle to find much that is caring and humanitarian about it.

Mating - It's more horror than romance!

Raising - I've heard sooooo many distasteful stories about yearling preparation that even if only a tiny proportion are true it's too many.

Training - You should by now know all about the manner in which these social, 'prairie' animals are cooped up endlessly 24/7. To say nothing of trainers who often bring immature yearlings straight from the sales into their yards w-a-a-y before time.

Breeding - And you honestly believe that every horse bred finds an owner? And that the unlucky ones are wafting around large, grassy paddocks? Yeah, right! You'll probably find them buried in a distant corner of the farm.

Vets - My how they love to 'service' horses. Not much encouragement needed before the steroids et al go in. They call it 'help'.

And please don't let me again hear that overworked justification - It provides jobs! Well - so does drug smuggling, prostitution, arms dealing et al. And we don't believe they are such a great idea!

Some changes to be implemented following the unfortunate death caused by a flag-waving kid.

VRC make changes after Araldo’s death

Clinton Payne - 5/11/2014

The Victoria Racing Club has announced changes to enhance "the safety and well-being of horses” and people for the final two days of the Melbourne Cup carnival after the unfortunate event that resulted in the demise of Araldo following the running of the great race.

Araldo died from injuries he suffered when he kicked out and made contact with the steel fence after a spectator waving an Australian flag frightened him when returning to the mounting yard.

VRC acting chief executive Julian Sullivan says the club consulted with Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey before deciding to ban patrons from having flags "in horse areas ".

They have also changed the process of horses following the winner back into the mounting yard in Group I races.

"While it is important not to respond in a knee-jerk manner, these interim arrangements will be implemented until procedures are reviewed after the Melbourne Cup carnival,” Sullivan said.

"Traditionally horses wait for the winner to lead them down the race, but will now enter the mounting yard in the order they return.

"The larger crowds that gather for the Group I races will still have the opportunity to see the horses return to scale along the track.”

Vets enter the fray and have their say...........................


Vets defend Australian racing's horse welfare practices

Nic Ashman - 5/11/2014

Two of Australia's most respected vets have defended the racing industry’s horse welfare practices after anti-racing groups used the unfortunate events of the Melbourne Cup to promote their views.

The deaths of Admire Rakti and Araldo were the main talking points on Australian social media in the aftermath to the Melbourne Cup while the RSPCA demanded "a full and transparent investigation into both incidents”.

Racing Victoria chief vet Brian Stewart says "it’s the Holy Grail of my existence” to identify horses that are at risk to fractures like the one Araldo suffered following Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

Araldo was involved in a "freak accident” when returning to scale shortly after the $6 million event. He was spooked by a patron waving a flag and subsequently fractured his pastern before being euthanised.

Animal welfare groups have launched at the racing industry claiming horses aren’t treated properly – something that industry people, who devote their lives to horses won’t tolerate.

"It is undeniable that we have fatalities in racing. They’re very low, they’re not common,” Stewart told RSN.

He discussed the difference between a horse injuring itself as the result of running on an uneven surface compared to "bone fatigue fractures”.

"My mission in life is to learn more about why horses develop these bone fatigue fractures,” he said.

"They’re not the result of stepping in a hole or something like that, it’s the end stage of bone adaption where you get stress fractures and they let go during a race.”

There’s been no mention from horse welfare groups about the large amounts of study vets around Australia and the world do to learn more about horse injuries and how to prevent them.

"We’d love to be able to identify horses at risk (to bone fatigue fractures). I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I can’t do it and don’t know anyone who can,” Stewart said.

"We’re putting a lot of money into the University of Melbourne possibly with the racing laboratory here to try and develop a method of identify horses that are at risk and to have some sort of screening test that would allow us to identify these horses that might be susceptible to these fractures.

"It’s the Holy Grail of my existence – to be able to facilitate developing something like that, that will enable us to pick up the very early warning signs and prevent them.”

Stewart also stated that deaths such as the one Admire Rakti suffered are "extremely rare”.

Welfare groups should also note Stewart was responsible for Cavalryman’s scratching, a move that surely suggests the horse’s well-being comes before racing and turnover.

RSN then interviewed an emotional Tom Brennan from Flemington Equine, who discussed the care Araldo had on a daily basis.

RSN’s Shane Anderson has known Brennan for years and describes him as a "tough Queenslander” but Araldo’s death clearly left him upset.

"We’ve had a fair bit to do with this horse. He was a bit of a favourite,” Brennan said

"Mike (Moroney) flew me up to Sydney when he first arrived in Australia and I said to him this is the nicest international I’ve seen.

"I said this could be the horse we’ve been looking for. It was very tough yesterday.”

Brennan is used to giving bad news to people about their horses but said "yesterday was a little tougher than usual”.

He wouldn’t hear of the suggestions that horses aren’t cared for.

"Mike’s assistant trainer, Matt Hoysted spent hours on that horse every day. Just loves the horse, did everything with that horse,” he said.

"It was all to prepare him for yesterday and then we have a freak accident and end up losing him.

"Mike said ‘just save him’ and umm yeh..” – the interview then ended with Brennan in an emotional state.

The racing industry gives a home to thousands of horses every year. These horses are looked after as well as, if not better, than the average house pet.

No one in racing likes the events of Tuesday the same as we don’t like hearing of fatal car accidents but we all keep driving.




Nic Ashman

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Comments

lonhro12
Mr Chan, the same thought crossed my mind re AR. Re Shogun Lodge....if the problem had been detected 18 months previous to him crashing and burning in the Emirates, WHY were connections permitted to keep racing him? If he'd brought half the field down and caused the deaths/crippling injuries of other horses AND JOCKEYS, what would the legal situation have been?

Magi
Yes, Admire Rakti's "second-up" form had been pretty hairy at times. It's what made me discount him.

Mr Chan
As far as Admire Rakti goes, I wonder whether he has had this problem for some time as there are some really poor runs on his record. It is sounding a bit like Shogun Lodge, who dropped dead of a heart attack midway through the 2003 Emirates Stakes. Eighteen months earlier, after a poor run in the Queen Elizabeth, he had apparently almost died in his stall from a similar problem.

Mr Chan
Well, in other industries, such as airlines, when you have a terrible accident, you have an investigation, and often changes are made for the better. In racing, though, not so much. It wasn't so long ago, on Newmarket day in 2010, that a storm went through the place, horses got loose and created all manner of chaos, including severe injury to the horses. Every time, these sorts of incidents just get characterised as a "freak" accident. But there must be a time where you get to thinking about how the racecourse is laid out, where the horses are required to go, etc. - for instance, you could end tomorrow this ludicrous practice of making the horses go for such a long distance past the crowd as they go onto the track.

Magi
By far the most heinous cruelty on earth is perpetrated by man against man. Let's get that sorted before taking the self-righteous moral high ground on racing which is, on balance, one of the most regulated and exacting activities undertaken for man's pleasure. One of the Melbourne Cup deaths was pure accident, unrelated to any circumstances of running in the race; the other was an unpredictable demise equivalent to some healthy 25-year-old collapsing during/after a competitive game of club rugby - IT HAPPENS !

Magi
The hysterical public reaction is entirely predictable given more racing-unworldly people watch this race than almost any other in the world. It's one of the big crosses racing has to bear nowadays in this mass media world - the weight of public sentiment, and it is an increasingly difficult burden to bear. 60 years ago it would have been a footnote at the end of an article. Healthy humans die, spontaneously, exercising/playing sport every day of the year. The only thing different - and it's the biggest thing - is that humans have free choice, horses don't. Hence the emotive reaction.

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