Equestrian story by Fred Smith, Fri, 17 Mar 2006 14:20:01 GMT


This year's Cheltenham Festival has turned sour within the first three days, as eight horses have died. Organizers have decided to launch an investigation into the incidents after an animal rights group appealed to the public to shun the festival.

"There is absolutely no pattern in terms of those fatal injuries. It is very unusual and very regrettable," said Edward Gillespie, the managing director of Cheltenham Racecourse. "I think it is the worst tally for as many as twenty years on a single day, which is so sad. We will review and investigate each and every injury, let alone each and every fatality."

The last time horses met with such fatalities was in 1996 when ten horses had died during what was then a three-day festival. "Safety is our absolute number one priority here. Incidentally, until yesterday, this season we have raced eight days since the end of October and we haven't had a single fatality until the beginning of this week. Eight race meetings with about 800 runners and not a single fatality," Gillespie stressed.

"Everything we have done is to minimize manageable risk, and this, it appears, is a combination of different injuries being inflicted sadly on these horses." He added that the course managers had done everything from leveling the ground to positioning hurdles and fences in the best possible position so as to minimize the risk for horses.

Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid criticized racing authorities saying that they always contrived to conceal these deaths, which sadly occur in a routine manner, "There is no justification for events such as this to continue while routinely horses are dying. Some 375 horses are raced to death every year in this country," Tyler added. Five horses namely Millenaire, Basilea Star, Mr Babbage, Holy Orders and Olaso, succumbed on the third day.

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