Irish racing’s long-term sustainability is bound up with horse welfare. If a vast middle ground of public opinion starts to doubt the sport’s social contract because of how thoroughbreds are treated the game will be in real trouble. Crucial to the welfare debate is another ‘W’ word – wastage.
Technically it refers to when horses leave racing. In practice it’s often about what happens to horses once their usefulness is over. And, in the vernacular, it’s loaded with visceral connotations as starkly shown in last summer’s RTÉ Investigates programme about standards at the Shannonside abattoir.
More than 1,400 thoroughbreds went through Shannonside last year. That’s in a context of there being over 10,000 horses in training in 2023. Over 9,500 foals were registered here last year. These are also figures in a context where there is no system for lifetime traceability of the animals that keep the racing show on the road. It is unclear what the real wastage rate is.
What happens to horses once they get old, injured, can’t run fast, or just become too expensive to keep is far from racing’s more glamorous public image. It is an uncomfortable reality that many choose to ignore. But in a climate where questions about man’s uneasy relationship with the animal kingdom are being asked like never before, ignorance is no excuse.
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It never has been – but for far too long out of sight has meant out of mind. Racing has had the luxury of parking to the side some uncomfortable consequences of its success story. That’s no longer the case. Facing up to it must be a priority because broad acceptance of animal sports is rooted in consensus about its central participants being treated properly from birth to death.
If for no other reason than a selfish one , it is in the racing and bloodstock sector’s own interests to come up with a systemic process that reassures popular opinion. Instinctive reactions to stories such as Shannonside, and even those where welfare wasn’t precisely an issue, reflect the depth of public emotion in this matter.
How best to create such a system is something that should constantly occupy industry thinking, particularly through its governing body, Horse Racing Ireland.
Certain traceability steps have been introduced by HRI and some money has been allocated to admirable rehoming bodies such as Treo Eile that inevitably, in terms of numbers, only scratch at the surface of the issue. Resignation at the scale of the problem simply being too big appears to prevail, leading to little more than trying to persuade owners to do the right thing.
Many do, but others don’t, and shrugged shoulders won’t cut it any more. Substantial measures need to be taken on a problem that exists in every major racing jurisdiction but which Ireland has a bigger per capita stake in than anywhere else. That requires debate and a climate conducive to ideas being thrown out there.
This Monday, former trainer Ger Hussey plans to personally deliver his own idea to HRI, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and the Department of Agriculture. He’s no headline act but has over 20 years at the sport’s coalface, operating as a groom, rider, trained a few winners, and now works as a travelling head man. Since last year he has also rehomed over 80 thoroughbreds.
That’s because throughout those two decades he has been alarmed about wastage and horses simply dropping off the radar. Along with some other industry professionals he has set up an online group – Horse Welfare Within Racing Ireland – and concluded that a system of registration, assessment, retraining and rehoming for ex-racehorses is urgently required.
But Hussey is sticking his head above the parapet with an actual proposal. Central to it is provision for a facility for up to 200 horses at a time that’s also a hub for a wider rehoming structure. Crucially, he’s also arguing for IHRB rules that make owners and trainers contact that hub when every horse is due to exit racing. It would see horses logged, keeping them in an official loop.
Hussey isn’t dewy-eyed about this. He says euthanasia properly carried out as a last resort is a valid route. Initial funding would come from the Horse & Greyhound Fund, diverting some money away from the endless focus on prize money. Subsequently, a levy on all sectors with skin in the game could be imposed.
Such funding needs to be seen as an investment rather than a cost. A transparent post-racing system, and a centre open to the public, would be a significant reputational plus for a sport that’s only going to come under more scrutiny in future. There is some evidence in the UK of preparing horses for other careers around Europe and further afield that can even turn a profit.
Hussey describes his proposal as firefighting. That’s how urgent it is. He doesn’t claim its perfect. No doubt some will dismiss it as Utopian. But as a contribution to an issue in which so many have a stake, and which comes from a place of practical everyday experience rather than some expensively commissioned self-seeking report, it is surely worthy of examination.
Whether it fully realises it yet, Irish racing can’t afford to shrug its shoulders on such a vital matter any more.
Something for the Weekend
Arc weekend didn’t go particularly well for the French, but some revenge could be on the cards at tomorrow’s British Champions Day. Beauvatier (1.55) finished notably well in the Foret at Longchamp and testing ground on a stiff six furlongs could set up perfect for him in the Sprint.
Iresine (3.55) has run the distance gamut for Group One success from the Royal Oak to the Ganay during his career. He’s not fashionable but grit will be at a premium in the Champion Stakes.
