Two horses dead on the first day of the 2018 Cheltenham Festival

The first of the victims was Irish horse Mossback (IRE), a six-year-old gelding who fell awkwardly and looked to injure a foreleg. He was subsequently destroyed at the course. Only six of the sixteen horses competing in the race managed to finish the exhausting 4-mile amateur riders’ contest.

Just 40 minutes later Welsh trained horse Report To Base (IRE) who was also just six years old, was fatally injured in the day’s two and a half mile chase when jumping Cheltenham’s tough fences.

The role of the welfare regulator, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) must seriously be questioned as they have failed to stem a tide of deaths not only at Cheltenham but at racecourses across Great Britain.

Animal Aid currently has an e-petition urging the government to set up an independent regulatory body, with horse welfare as its only interest. This would see meaningful action taken to stop horse deaths in racing.

Says Animal Aid’s Horse Racing Consultant Dene Stansall:

‘Yet again the demands of Cheltenham Racecourse have proved too much for many horses racing today. The Jockey Club owned racecourse and the BHA should hang their heads in shame at what was a sad spectacle where two young horses lost their lives. Questions need to be answered as to the role of the welfare regulator.’

Editors’ Notes

• For a list of all horses’ deaths at Cheltenham visit our Race Horse Death Watch website
• Sign the e-petition