Right: horse racing has its detractors in almost all countries. Here, a group from PETA demonstrates at a United States protest.
 Found a word you're not familiar with? Double-click that word to bring up a dictionary reference to it. The dictionary page includes an audio sound file with which to actually hear the word said. |
Arguments against banning horse racing
1. Very few horses die as a result of horse racing
It has been claimed that the horse fatalities that occur due to racing are very few and that the sport does not place animals at an unacceptable risk.
Racing Victoria’s chief veterinarian, Brian Stewart, has stated, ‘It is undeniable that we have fatalities in racing. They're very low, they're not common.’
In an opinion piece published on news.com.au on November 5, 2014, it was stated, ‘There are some 30,000 thoroughbred racehorses in work, and 20,000 races in any given year to make the billion dollar machine tick over. That means just 0.4 per cent of horses die each year. Another way of looking at that is that one horse dies every 160 races.’
Similarly low figures have been given by Chris Whitton, the head of the Equine Centre and Associate Professor of Equine Medicine and Surgery at the University of Melbourne. In an article published in The Conversation on November 6, 2014, Dr Whitton stated, ‘Because of careful data collection we know that the rate of sudden deaths on Victorian Thoroughbred racetracks over the past ten years is 0.06 per 1,000 flat race starts. This equates to one to two sudden deaths per year in Victoria.
The rate of limb injuries in flat racing resulting in euthanasia on Victorian race tracks over the same period is 0.4 per 1,000 starts.’
Dr Whitton has explained what causes such fatalities. ‘These are big animals, they are very powerful animals, they have a heightened flight response to stimuli. Things can go wrong very easily, very rapidly at any time.
There is inherent risk in racing but there is inherent risk in having a horse full stop. You cannot avoid that with horses, it is just the nature of the animal. In modern society we have this unrealistic view that there is no risk in anything we do.’
Referring specifically to the deaths which occurred after the 2014 Melbourne Cup, defenders of the race have argued that both were unusual accidents which it would have been difficult to predict or prevent.
In an opinion piece published in The Geelong Advertiser on November 6, 2014, Ryan Reynolds stated, ‘The deaths of both horses are nothing more than freakish events that could not be stopped or predicted — just like a horse on a farm dying from a snake bite, or a brumby in the wild dying of dehydration.’
2. There are measures in place to reduce risk and distress to horses
It is argued that not only is the risk of horses dying as a result of horse racing low, there are measures constantly being put in place and overseen to ensure that hazards and distress to the horses are kept to a minimum.
The chief executive of Racing Victoria, Bernard Saundry has stated, ‘The inference that horse racing kills its equine athletes is misleading and very disappointing for the many people within our industry who have spent the best part of a lifetime caring for horses.
The average fatality rate in Victorian thoroughbred racing is the lowest in world racing and we are working hard to reduce it even further through stricter medication controls, significant investments in improving tracks and training facilities and the funding of major research studies.’
Similarly, Racing and Waging Western Australia (RWWA) states on its Internet site, ‘The Australian racing industry is committed to the welfare of the Australian racehorse.
The Australian Rules of Racing contain provisions [to ensure this].
As an example of the provisions of the Australian Rules of Racing, RWWA states, ‘The housing, feeding and training of racehorses should be consistent with good horsemanship and must not compromise their welfare. Any practices whether in stables, training or racing which are inconsistent with contemporary standards of husbandry should not be tolerated.’
With particular reference to one of the horse deaths at the 2014 Melbourne Cup, Victorian racing officials have introduced measures to prevent a recurrence of the post-race incident which led to the injury and subsequent death of Araldo.
A meeting between stewards and the Victorian Jockeys Association resolved to restrict the size of flags that can be brought to a racecourse. Also, for the remaining Group One races of the Spring Carnival, horses will come back into the mounting yard through the clock tower gate to avoid dangerous congestion.
3. There would be far fewer horses without horse racing
It has been claimed that those who see breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys as in some sense the enemies of the horses with whom they work have misread the situation.
Those who work in the racing industry generally love the animals with which they deal. The animals that they tend, ride and train would not even be in existence without the racing industry.
In an editorial published on November 5, 2014, it was stated, ‘What racing brings in the love of the sport, improved bloodlines, in providing a living for thousands of people is incalculable. Included in this are the lives of horses who would not otherwise be born. They are not bred to be sacrificed. They race to win and retire.’
It has been claimed that rather than finishing at a knackery, many of those horses that retire from horse racing find homes within the community in a variety of other capacities.
In 2002-3, Professor Paul McGreevy, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, studied the fate of retired racehorses in Australia and found that of 1,333 horses that left a racing stable, 63% stayed in the industry with 243 (18%) going to stud, 229 (17%) moving to another trainer, 150 (11%) spelling, and 221 (17%) sold at auction. Of the 490 horses that left racing, 324 went to other careers, with a small portion being unspecified, dead or at a knackery.
A more recent study commissioned in 2013 from consultant Renee Geelen by the Australian Racing Board produced similar results. Of those horses that had completed their racing career, 45 per cent were at stud, 31 per cent were sold or gifted as pleasure horses, 14 per cent were returned to the owner and 7 per cent died or were euthanised by a vet. (It is claimed only .4 per cent were sent to the knackery.)
Statistics such as these fuel claims that the 15,000 odd Thoroughbred horses born annually replace those who are retired and that these animals then find places within the larger horse-owning community. Supporters of the horse racing industry claim that without it there would simply be far fewer horses in existence in Australia.
(It should be noted that neither the McGreevy nor Geelen surveys was comprehensive as each was based on limited and not necessarily representative samples.)
4. The horse racing industry is economically important
On October 1, 2014, The People and Environment Blog invited consultant Renee Geelen to comment on various aspects of the horse racing industry. In 2013 Geelen was commissioned by the Australian Racing Board to undertake a survey of retired horses.
Geelen stated, ‘The Australian racing industry is the second largest in the world (after the USA) with more than $520million in prize money on offer every year. Over 70,000 people own shares in more than 32,000 racehorses and the range of ownership is huge. Some syndicates have more than 100 people involved in one horse, while bigger owners have more than 500 horses in work…
A racehorse costs about $30,000 a year to keep in training, and that money employs the strappers, trainers, riders, vets, farriers, feed companies and many others that look after the horse’s every need.’
On its Internet site, the Australian Quarter Horse Racing Development Pty Ld (AQHRD) has stated, ‘The contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the horse industry is estimated at over $6.3 billion, and if the value of volunteer labour is also included this pushes the contribution of the industry to almost $8 billion
Animal-related expenditures contribute a little under half of the overall contribution to GDP, at $3.1 billion — this expenditure is divided fairly evenly between animal husbandry, feed, stabling and accommodation and training
Business-related expenditures contribute $2.4 billion — well over half is labour expenditure.’
AQHRD has also noted, ‘Wagering on horse racing alone contributes almost $1 billion to state government revenue; and based on an average tax rate of 25 per cent income taxes on labour would contribute $100 million in federal government revenue.’
Referring specifically to the Melbourne Cup and the Spring Racing Carnival, University of New South Wales economist Tim Harcourt has stated, ‘There's a lot of … business that comes out of the Melbourne Cup; they reckon about $1.7 billion comes from networking events.’
5. Horse racing is very popular and culturally significant in Australia
It has been noted that horse racing gives a great deal of enjoyment to many Australians and that it has been an important aspect of the Australian cultural and social scene for over two hundred years.
In 2010, on the bicentenary of horse racing in Australia, Racing New South Wales stated, ‘Every nation has its own distinctive cultural identity and the literature, films and art of that country, both draw from and shape that identity.
In Australia’s case, the highs and lows of racing, the courage and beauty of the thoroughbred, and the eclectic cast of personalities who consort at the racetrack are a constant refrain in our national story.’
Horseracing.com.au includes on its Internet site the following overview of the importance of horse racing in Australia, ‘The Australian horse racing calendar consists of 19,376 horse races that are held across 2,694 race meetings each year… The country has a staggering 194,736 race starters, made up of 31,776 individual runners, competing on Australia’s 367 racecourses each year.
Australia’s most coveted race is the annual Melbourne Cup, which takes place on the first Tuesday of November each year and is worth an incredible $6 million. Every year this historic event, which began in 1861, attracts crowds in excess of 100,000 people. 2003’s Melbourne Cup holds the record for the highest number of attendees, with 122,736 people gathering to watch Makybe Diva win her first of three consecutive Melbourne Cup titles.’