Australian racing embroiled in US doping saga

We have been so embroiled in the US racehorse doping saga, we missed reporting this. THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (March 10, 2020) — Two drug dealers have been accused of supplying EPO* for the administration to horses competing in Australia as part of the doping saga engulfing American racing. Sarah Izhaki and Ashley Lebowitz were…

Three horses dead after two days of the Cheltenham Festival

Cross-posted from The Guardian WRITTEN BY GREG WOOD CHELTENHAM, ENGLAND -- Two horses were killed here on Wednesday to bring the total number of deaths to three after two days of this year's Festival. Stack The Deck, who was running in the Champion Bumper, a flat race, and Akdam, who was brought down by a…

UK: As horse deaths mount, campaigners ask: what price a day at the races

Cheltenham heads list of courses where most animals die, and jump racing carries most risk Cross-posted from The Observer A thousand horses have died on Britain's racecourses since 2007, according to records kept by an animal rights organisation. Animal Aid's "Death Watch" list reached the 1,000 mark late last month when a seven-year-old gelding, Hired…

Grand National: Plotting the best course to safer racing

Grand National. Safer racing. Can it be done? Yes, but careful study needs to be done before any changes are made. Injury and fatality free racing. Can that be done? In the digital world perhaps, but not in live racing. In an article for BBC Sport Frank Keogh spoke with three former National Hunt jockeys,…

Grand National: According to Pete owner will not return

Cross-posted from BBC News The owner of a horse that was put down after falling at a fence in the Grand National at Aintree has said he will not enter horses in the race again. Peter Nelson, who lives at Helperby, near Boroughbridge, in North Yorkshire, owned According to Pete, who fell at Becher's Brook…

Synchronised and According to Pete killed in the Grand National

Last update 8:33 pm The Daily Telegraph reports: It is the second time in two years that two horses have died in the Grand National. The deaths will reignite the controversy surrounding the sport. Millions of television viewers saw Gold Cup winner Synchronised and According to Pete fall at the sixth fence – Becher’s Brook.…

May Races RSPCA cruelty case collapses (AU)

I do not know about you, but I am tired of veterinarians acting as paid -- or in this case unpaid -- mouthpieces to support cruelty to horses. Surely any bystander with a passing knowledge of horses, or witnessing anyone catastrophically injured, would know it is exceedingly cruel and unfeeling to move the victim. How…

Riderless jumps horse plunges into crowd injuring two (AU)

This is an update on the original report. Cross-posted from the Herald Sun An 80-year-old woman and a two-year-old boy remain in a stable condition in Warrnambool Hospital after the accident at yesterday's Grand Annual Steeplechase at the Warrnambool carnival. Five other injured people had been released from hospital by late last night, a hospital…