Racing bosses condemn mistreatment of former racehorses
Racing NSW has called for the “strongest possible action” to be taken against a Queensland abattoir caught on hidden ABC cameras abusing and slaughtering former racehorses.
NSW
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Racing NSW has called for the “strongest possible action” to be taken against a Queensland abattoir caught on hidden ABC cameras abusing and slaughtering former race horses.
The footage has rocked the racing industry on the eve of its biggest race days — The Everest in NSW and the Caulfield Cup in Victoria.
Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys said the vision was “sickening and horrendous” and called for the Queensland government to take “strongest possible action” in response.
“Such conduct and any mistreatment of horses is not tolerated in the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry,” he said.
His comments were echoed by Victoria Racing Club chief executive Neil Wilson who said: “The welfare of horses is the responsibility of everyone associated with the industry and none of us can walk away from what was shown last night.
“Everyone who comes to Flemington Racecourse must be assured that the welfare of the horses they see compete on the track doesn’t end when the horse goes home after the races.”
Queensland Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said the abattoir where the footage was taken will be investigated.
“The Minister for Agriculture has directed biosecurity officers to go in today and investigate animal cruelty allegations at the Meramist Abattoir,” he said.
Mr V’landys also told 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones the ABC had not responded to calls to correct inaccuracies in its story.
“The story was quite misleading because this is not happening in NSW. We’re proud of our record here.
“The horses that the ABC identified, in actual fact, weren’t in our jurisdiction.
“Out of 10,000 horses, we rehomed almost every one of them ... the ABC never returned our calls to give them that advice,” Mr V’landys said.
Racing NSW spends one per cent of all prize money on horse welfare — more than $2.5 million last year — and has bought property all over the state including 2500 acres at Capertree as part of its rehoming program.
“There’s no people that look after their animals better than what the thoroughbred people do. They treat them like family.
“And to take one or two people that do the wrong thing and portray a whole industry like that is completely unfair and unjust.”
Racing Australia chief executive Barry O’Farrell said that once horses were retired and rehomed from the industry stewards no longer had the power to track them or monitor their welfare.
They fell under the same welfare restrictions as the 90 per cent of non-thoroughbred horses in Australia.
“That is why the board of Racing Australia has supported a proposal for a national horse traceability register.”
Racehorse trainer David Pfieffer said two of the horses featured on the ABC program — Tahitian Black and Next Of Kin — “were found nice homes at the end of their racing careers”.
The treatment of another horse featured in the program, War Ends, prompted jockey Laura Cheshire to write on Facebook that she had “failed” the horse after seeing her passed “on and on and on”.
“You went through a show home, to a dealer, then onto a dodgy seller. We tried so hard to place you into a good home,” she wrote.
“The lady who had you last told me you were in a forever home. Then she passed you on. I told her to get you back. To give you to me if she couldn’t keep you.”
Thoroughbred Breeders Australia chief executive Tom Reilly told reporters: “All horses, whether thoroughbreds or not, deserve to be treated humanely and with dignity.
“The full force of the law should be brought down on anybody in the footage shown mistreating those horses.”
