Activists call for horse racing ban on welfare concerns

New Zealand’s horse racing industry, which is already facing major challenges in the form of a government overhaul, has now come under threat from activists who are calling for a ban on both wagering and racing itself.

“It's time for horse racing to be put out to pasture,” says Marianne Macdonald from SAFE for Animals New Zealand.

The organisation believes racing is cruel and leads to deaths and injury. MacDonald wants gambling on horses outlawed, as she believes this will lead to the demise of the industry.

New Zealanders spent $338 million betting on horses in the 2016/2017 fiscal year, behind spending on lotteries at $555 million and on pokies, which was the highest form of gambling spend at $870 million.

In the past couple of years, animal welfare groups in New Zealand have successfully created change by exposing cruelty to animals, ranging from pigs to chickens. These actions have resulted in criminal prosecutions and stimulated demand for free range eggs, chicken and pork products.

However, the putting down of the Irish horse The Cliffsofmoher after breaking a shoulder in the Melbourne Cup in November has thrust the racing industry into the public spotlight.

The horse’s death provoked a savage reaction in social media in Australia, with some citing the whipping of the horse and its sweating before the race as factors in its death. It was the sixth horse to die in the race since 2013.

Five jockeys were also suspended or fined for excessive use of the whip in the 2018 Cup race, reflecting the pressure that jockeys are under in big races.

“Absolute negligence by the owners, trainers and the jockey,” wrote one angry viewer. Another said she would never watch racing again.

Although deaths have always occurred from time to time in horse racing around the world, the strength and volume of the public reaction is new, and this is not lost on the industry in New Zealand.

Assurances that such incidents are rare and that stringent safety codes are in place don’t cut it when there is strong and negative public feeling.

A recent exchange between the two sides was published in a national newspaper in New Zealand last month.

“Both horse racing junkies and animal welfare activists agree that horse racing will never be free of death or injury, with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing animal welfare general manager Martin Burns saying fatalities can't be ruled out.

"There's an element of risk because it’s a challenging and high paced sport with large animals, so where you've got those factors there will always be risk," he says.

“The billion-dollar racing industry treats horses as if they were disposable commodities, SAFE’s Macdonald says.

"Every animal-loving Kiwi agrees that animals shouldn't be dying for entertainment," she says.

"It's impossible to make it safe when these animals are running at such speeds, bunched together or jumping over large fences, and whipped to push them even faster when they're tiring."

In New Zealand, the issues are the use of the whip, which is permitted but restricted until 100 metres from the winning post, and “bleeding”, where a thoroughbred develops a haemorrhage in the lungs after a race. Many horses, perhaps as many as 50 percent, experience bleeding and it is major cause of fatalities.

Although it is not thought that smaller bleeds cause any long term harm to horses, there is no research on the subject.

These factors fuel concerns about whether the industry takes into account the welfare of the animals sufficiently.

In turn this has given some legitimacy to the activists’ complaints, although no owner, breeder trainer or jockey has yet said these justify an end to racing.

The calls for the ban come as the government is seeking to implement recommendations from a report which recommends stripping the New Zealand Racing Board of most of its powers, leasing out the TAB (which has a monopoly on off track betting) to an Australian operator, closing 28 of the country’s 48 race courses, and devolving power to run thoroughbred, harness racing and greyhounds to the respective codes.

Figures from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing show there were 25 fatalities in New Zealand, a rate of 0.94 death per thousand starts nationally. That’s relatively small in terms of death per starts but the figure has been rising from just 0.68 deaths in 2011.

The American Jockey Club reported 484 horse fatalities in 2015, a rate of 1.62 deaths per thousand starts, down from 1.89 in 2014.

In New Zealand there is government funding available to improve the safety of racing, but this amounts to only one million dollars a year (US$630 000) and covers public facilities on race courses as well as the actual racing tracks and doesn’t directly address concerns about whether it is cruel to make a horse compete at all.

For example, the most recent round of funding announced in December was for 25 “infrastructure projects including track maintenance equipment, irrigation system installation, replacement running rails and track lighting upgrades.” Nothing at all about inspections of horses, audits of training and racing practices, or countering rising public concern about animal welfare.

Ben Pearson from World Animal Protection New Zealand says horse racing is “outright cruel”.

Using horses for entertainment is wrong, he says.