Three young horses dead in two days of racing

The first victim was young filly Gloria Tua, aged just three years old. She injured a foreleg in a flat race at Lingfield Park at 4.30 pm on Friday. It was just her second race. The injury was so severe that she was destroyed.

An hour later at Market Rasen Racecourse, a young five-year-old gelding known as Potters Tale, was pulled up injured. He was subsequently reported as dead.

The following day, four-year-old Act Of Valour lost his life in a horrendous fall at Haydock Park Racecourse. This immature horse was forced to jump hurdles at an unreasonably young age. He fell and hit the ground, landing on his neck, but continued to somersault and get kicked by other horses until he lay still – he was not seen to rise.

Thoroughbred horses, if healthy, could live for well over 20 years and some even up to thirty. The loss of these young horses’ lives due to racing has deprived them of any future.