Racecourse deaths a sad part of the game

The death of a racehorse on the track is a lurking nightmare that comes true for the racing industry from time to time. For the humans involved, it’s an horrific incident; for animal rights activists, it fuels calls for banning.

On Friday, two horses were “humanely euthanised” at Fairview in Gqeberha after a catastrophic accident during the running of the fifth race, an MR 96 handicap over 1200m on the Polytrack.

The stipes reported: “Approaching the 950m Inherit The Rain (X Ndlovu) faltered and stumbled badly. As a consequence, Family Law (L Mxothwa), which was close behind, was unable to take evasive action and fell over Inherit The Rain, which resulted in both jockeys simultaneously being dislodged from their fallen mounts. Family Law and Inherit The Rain were attended to on course by the veterinary surgeon. Jockeys L Mxothwa and X Ndlovu were attended to on course by the paramedics and subsequently by the on-course medical officer.”

The vets reported: “Inherit The Rain – fractured left fetlock. Humanely euthanised … Family Law – fractured left knee. Humanely euthanised.”

Equine racing fatalities

Early reports mentioned that Charles Ndlovu was unharmed but Luy Mxothwa’s injuries saw him stood down for the rest of the meeting. Perhaps not enough was said about the unfortunate horses – but the news cycle’s ceaseless churn might be to blame for that.

Every racing fan who became aware of the tragedy expressed sadness.

Horse fatality is an issue racing must face in a world increasingly sensitive to anthropomorphism: the attribution of human characteristics to animals.

Before argument begins, though, it should be remembered that equine racing fatalities are rare.

It boils down to some people being prepared to accept the risks involved because of their deep love of horses and sport and others who aren’t. Inevitably, some of the latter group are not horsey folk.

Moral questions are raised about horses not choosing to race – or to go jumping or eventing. But horses and people have had a deep, symbiotic relationship for centuries. Is it time to stop all that? If we did, horses would lose value and there’d be a lot fewer of them around.

The British racing industry has interesting stats: In 2023, in 6,366 flat races with 57,672 runners, there were 46 fatal injuries – a rate of 0.08%, which matches the five-year rolling average.

“If a horse falls or is injured during racing, teams of expert vets respond in less than 60 seconds,” says welfare body HorsePWC. “However, like any sport, risk can never be removed entirely for both humans and horses, and there is always more work to be done. British racing is open and transparent about this.”

Testing of horses

In the US, “more work” involves ever-stricter drug testing to restrict use of painkillers that can prevent horses protecting themselves during exercise. The future will see the use of sensors to test, pre-race, for minor changes to horses’ gaits, indicating undetected injuries which could get worse under pressure.

In South Africa, the introduction pre-race total carbon dioxide (TCO2 or “milkshake”) testing has caused confusion, but is squarely aimed at preventing horses from exerting themselves beyond safe limits.

Australian racing officials were so determined to avoid calamity and damaging headlines that they incurred the wrath of the world’s pre-eminent trainer, Ireland’s Aiden O’Brien, by scratching his horse Jan Brueghel from the 2024 Melbourne Cup.

Jan Brueghel was the ante-post favourite for Australia’s biggest race and O’Brien labelled the decision to withdraw him as “ridiculous”.

His own vets disagreed that scans showed a heightened risk of injury, but Racing Victoria wasn’t taking any chances – especially after O’Brien’s Anthony Van Dyck died in the 2020 Melbourne Cup.

In recent years, global racing has done a huge amount to improve its welfare of retired horses, but the spectre of a dying racehorse, in the heat of battle, is another challenge.