Racing not the sport of kings for everyone

Glamour hides cruel side to race that stops a nation, says Jenny Moxham

ON Tuesday more than 100,000 people will flock to Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse to attend Australia’s most famous thoroughbred horse race, the Melbourne Cup.

Often called the race that stops a nation, the Melbourne Cup has evolved since its birth in 1861 to become the richest two-mile handicap event in the entire world.

But what do the stars of the show get out of it?

How enjoyable are the lives of the thoroughbreds around whom racing revolves?

Sadly there is nothing glamorous about the life of a racehorse.

After being taken from their mothers at three to five months the young thoroughbreds undergo rough treatment to determine whether or not they are champion material.

Being forced to carry a rider by the age of one, while they are still growing, puts enormous strain on them, not only physically but also emotionally.

Spurs, whips and cruel bits are used to inflict pain on them to make them do their “best”.

The physical damage inflicted during training is great.

By beginning training so early, growth is stinted, which leads to bone compactions, sway backs and compacted spinal vertebrae.

The method of training also leads to problems. Running the horse on hard ground has a detrimental effect on the bones, ligaments, muscles, and tendons of a horse. Not to mention the countless hoof and fetlock problems.

On the racetrack the possibility of physical damage heightens. Speed itself can hurt a horse. The stress on their body, if they are trying to race too much, can cause weaker bones.

For up to 22 hours a day racehorses are confined in a stall about the size of a standard bedroom.

Harmful drugs are used to cloak pain and aggressiveness and improve performance.

Frequent administration of drugs by needle, drench or stomach tube soon causes severe stress, pain and fear in horses. It is not uncommon for a horse to start to shake at the approach of someone who looks as though they may use one of these treatments on them.

Drugs are also used to control an exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage in which a horse’s capillaries burst in the lungs. Studies have shown that 50 per cent of racehorses have blood in their windpipe and 90 per cent have blood deeper in their lungs.

Most racehorses also have stomach ulcers due to their unnatural feeding.

When a thoroughbred’s racing days are over the lucky few get rehomed, but about 18,000 of these noble animals are unceremoniously trucked away to be slaughtered.

Transportation often involves long hours in cramped trailers with no food or water. Injuries are common.

At the slaughterhouse they are killed in the same manner as cattle. The kill is not always instant and the horse may suffer a slow, lingering death.

Some will be ground up for pet food while others will be sold as meat for human consumption and exported to countries such as Japan and France.

This is the cruel and brutal reality of the sport of kings.