Horse racing reaches a new low as pregnant mare is killed having been forced to race three times in just 17 days

Posted on the 22nd May 2019

Exploitation at its worst in horse racing was exposed yesterday evening (21 May) at Hexham Racecourse. Eleven year-old mare, Beyondtemptation, was forced to race for the third time in just 17 days and was subsequently killed in a fall. The shocking and added tragedy was that the mare was carrying a foal - who also died.

Her death last night came less than an hour after another older horse, Vaxalco, was killed at Huntingdon Racecourse – the seventh death at that course this year.

Horse deaths are out of control in racing. With an increase in deaths on previous years, 2018 saw 202 victims, whilst to this point in 2019 an alarming 89 horses have lost their lives on British racecourses.

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is responsible for race horse welfare, but they are failing to stop horse deaths in any meaningful way. It is long overdue for politicians to remove them from their position and replace them with an independent welfare regulator with statutory powers to make changes to race horse welfare and bring down deaths.

Says, Animal Aid’s Horse Racing Consultant, Dene Stansall:

‘Forcing pregnant mares to race is an unacceptable burden that should be outlawed. Clearly, the racing industry and connections to the horse killed yesterday were willing to exploit the poor mare for financial gain – this is racing at its worst. Political action needs to be taken against the industry to prevent this from happening in the future. A new, independent horse welfare regulator would be a positive step they could implement.’

Notes to Editors