Is horse racing cruel or just a bit of fun?

MARK Richards (Letters) has clearly never ridden a racehorse, or known anyone who has. I am surprised you published his woke rubbish about horse racing.

Racehorses are not subject to ‘violent whipping’. The modern racing whip wouldn’t hurt a fly. Besides, jockeys can only use it six or seven times; excessive use leads to a ban.

As for ‘perilous speeds’, you can see the number of horses whose jockeys have been unseated. They travel at high speed with or without a jockey. It is what a horse is built for.

The horses live in luxury, are fed expensive food, have their own personal skivvy to cater to their every whim and are pandered to more than King Charles.

There are open days at Newmarket, Malton and Lambourn where you can see for yourself, and any queries will be answered by people who know what they are talking about.

I was once shown around, and taken to the gallops, by the late trainer Toby Balding, who couldn’t have been nicer if he tried. Thankfully, he wasn’t someone like Mr Richards from hippy central in Brighton.

Paul Charles Cook, huddersfield, w. yorks. LAST week, columnist Nadine dorries (Mail) gushed briefly about choosing an outfit for Ladies day at Cheltenham, and how much fun she looked forward to.

Reader Mark Richards wrote about the deaths of two horses at Cheltenham, how horses are bred for investment, how they are kept isolated in stalls for up to 23 hours a day and the horrific injuries they suffer during their racing lives.

I have been saying much the same as Mr Richards for 65 years.

The Grand National, which has sometimes fallen on my birthday, alerted me to the disgusting business of horse racing, especially over jumps, when I was quite young, and when I said to other people that it was wrong, I was mocked. ‘It’s just a bit of fun,’ they would say, ‘a flutter on the horses.’ did Nadine witness the horses’ deaths or even know about them? Perhaps she was having too much fun.