The horseracing industry not only causes suffering to horses when trained and forced to run against each other, but it also kills thousands of them every year.
Horseracing is a cruel activity disguised as a “sport” that causes great suffering to millions of horses around the world. However, the stress and exhaustion caused by forcing horses to run as fast as they can against each other is not the only reason this practice should be abolished. The horseracing industry directly kills thousands of horses every year by either causing them sudden death while they are running or by shooting them dead if they are severely injured during the races — which is not uncommon.
Quite possibly, horseracing may be the first unnatural cause of death of horses in the 21st century (discounting the working horses killed in abattoirs after a life of hard work, who are then sold to the meat industry in some countries). As only horses in optimal physical conditions have a chance to win a race, any injury the horse may incur during training or at a race may become a death sentence. The horses may be killed (often shot on the track itself) as spending any money in healing them and keeping them alive if they are not going to be racing anymore is something their “owners” (people who have been given the legal right to “own” them and exploit them as they see fit) may only want to do if they want to use them for breeding. We are talking about thousands of deaths that would not have happened had the horses not been forced to race each other as a spectacle or a gambling event.
Horses who survive the races may also be killed later. The racing industry talks about the “retirement” of the horses they exploit, but most of its horses end up at abattoirs that supply the pet food industry, or in dishes for humans in countries such as France, Japan, and South Korea, where horse meat is sold for human consumption.
Horses Killed in American Horse Tracks
According to Horseracing Wrongs, a non-profit organisation committed to ending the cruel and deadly horseracing industry in the United States, from 1st January 2014 to 26th April 2024, a total of 10,416 horses were confirmed to have been killed at US horseracing tracks. They estimate that over 2,000 horses die at US tracks every year. Horseracing deaths in the US increased slightly from 2022 to 2023. According to the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority, there were 1.32 deaths per 1,000 starts (horses starting a race) in 2023, up from 1.25 the previous year. The number at the 50 HISA-accredited tracks had a rate of 1.23 per 1,000, compared with 1.63 at others across the country.
On 3rd August 2023, Danehill Song, a 3-year-old horse, died after running on the opening day of Wine Country Horse Racing at the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, California. The horse took a bad step during a chase in the stretch and was later killed. The California Horse Racing Board listed the cause of Danehill Song’s death as musculoskeletal. Danehill Song was the 47th horse killed during the 2023 California racing season. Of the 47 horses that died this year, 23 of the deaths were recorded as musculoskeletal injuries, which normally leads to the horses being shot dead on what the organisers call “compassionate grounds”. On 4th August 2023, another horse died at the Del Mar racetrack. Five horses died at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in June and July.
In Ontario, Canada, Peter Physick-Sheard, an emeritus professor of population medicine, studied 1,709 horse deaths in the horseracing industry between 2003 and 2015, and found that the majority of deaths were attributable to “damage during exercise to the horses’ musculoskeletal system”.
Horses Killed in British and Irish Horse Tracks
Since 13th March 2007, the website horsedeathwatch, run by the British animal rights group Animal Aid, has been tracking the deaths of horses in the horseracing industry in the UK, and so far has counted 2,887 deaths in 6,433 days. In the UK, since the first Grand National in 1839, more than 80 horses have died during the race itself, with nearly half of these deaths taking place between 2000 and 2012. In 2021, The Long Mile was shot dead during the main race having suffered an injury while running on the flat course, two years after Up for Review lost his life at Aintree. At Aintree alone, more than 50 horses have died since 2000, including 15 during the Grand National itself. In 2021, there were 200 horse deaths across Britain. Reforms have been made since 2012, but they have made little difference.
The majority of fatalities occur in jump racing. The Grand National is a deliberately hazardous race. A dangerously overcrowded field of 40 horses is forced to face 30 extraordinarily challenging and treacherous jumps. Two horses died at the Grand National main horserace of the Aintree festival on 10th April 2022. Discorama died after being pulled up with an injury before the 13th fence, and Eclair Surf, one of the early favourites, died after suffering a heavy fall at the third fence. Cheltenham is also a dangerous racecourse. Since 2000, 67 horses have died at this annual festival (11 of them in the 2006 meeting).
On 11th March 2024, Animal Aid held a vigil outside the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) doors, in memory of the 175 horses who were killed on British racecourses in 2023. The deadliest racecourses in Britain in 2023 were Lichfield with nine deaths, Souyjfield with eight deaths, and Doncaster with seven deaths.
In Ireland, at least 100 horses died in 2023. In 2022, 84 horses were killed on courses in Ireland. The website Irishhorsedeathwatch.com has tracked 354 horses’ deaths in Irish tracks since February 2021.
Horses Killed in Other Horse Tracks Around the World
The 2022-2023 racing season in Australia saw 168 horse deaths on racetracks, which is the highest number since record-keeping began by the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses. A study focusing on Victoria, Australia, on horseracing for the 2022-2023 period, reported 3.3 deaths per 1,000 starts in jumps races.
In July 2024, a 7-year-old horse called Highlighter dropped to the ground at the Wellington Racing Club in New Zealand and was unable to get up. The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses said it suffered a heart attack due to a ruptured aorta. The coalition believed horseracing was a “major welfare” issue and statistics showed 16 horses had already died so far in 2024. More than 270 injuries had been reported on New Zealand horse tracks, including 37 horses bleeding from the lungs.
In November 2023, two jockeys were injured and an injured horse was killed following an accident caused by a sudden blackout during a horserace at Kanazawa, Japan. Three of the 11 jockeys fell off their horses after all the lights on the racetrack went out shortly after the day’s eighth race started at 5:10 p.m. at Kanazawa Horse Park. On 9th August 2023, a horse named Ask Victor More died of Heatstroke in Japan. The same year, a horse called Skilfing collapsed after a race in Tokyo.
On 1st July 2023, the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) staged the Hong Kong Reunification Raceday at Sha Tin Racecourse, and in the third race, a horse named Man Light suffered a stroke after crossing the finishing line. On 6th July 2023, the deaths of two more horses were reported in Hong Kong, China. A horse named “Happy Gathering” had broken a leg after it stumbled and fell during the race and was shot dead, and the other horse, BABY, collapsed and died after finishing the race.
Wherever there is any form of horseracing, be it jump races or flat races, professional or amateur, popular or rare, horses die or are killed.
Horseracing should be abolished everywhere in the world.
End the Grand National to Protect Horse Welfare: https://www.change.org/p/end-the-grand-national-to-protect-horse-welfare
