Heartbroken Queensland jockey Laura Cheshire reveals lengths she went to in bid to save War Ends

A devastated jockey has shared how she tried desperately to save her horse only to see him tortured and slaughtered on national television.

EXCLUSIVE

Laura Cheshire was watching television last night when she saw the horse she rode for a year — a thoroughbred she loved and rehomed four times — beaten, kicked and slaughtered.

The heartbroken 35-year-old Queensland jockey was beside herself as War Ends, a horse that won its owners more than $400,000 over an illustrious career, was treated with absolute disdain by workers at an abattoir in Queensland.

The footage, shot with hidden cameras as part of 7.30’s investigation into the mistreatment of racehorses, made her sick.

Through tears on the track at Ipswich this morning, she told news.com.au she was disgusted because the horse’s last owner had promised her “he won’t be dogged”.

Jockey Laura Cheshire rode War Ends before he was tortured and slaughtered.

“Next thing I know he’s on TV getting a bolt in his head,” Cheshire said. “It was horrific. It was unbearable to watch.”

This morning the respected jockey sent a message to War Ends’ last owner, a woman who told her she had to give him away despite promising him a “forever home”.

“I sent her the video of him being tortured,” she said. “I said, ‘What the f*** is wrong with you? You were supposed to be a responsible home for this horse.’”

The woman has since gone to ground and deleted her Facebook page. She has not responded to Cheshire’s texts.

On Facebook last night, Cheshire shared messages she sent and received after discovering the woman sent War Ends away.

“What the hell? This is really disappointing,” she wrote.

“Taking responsibility is one thing. Not knowing where the horse is or whether he is safe is another.”

The woman had promised her “I will get him back … I swear on my life”, but in the video broadcast last night he was being tortured at the hands of an abattoir worker.

It was the end of an arduous and exhausting journey for Cheshire who tried for years to find the retired racehorse a safe place to live out his remaining years.

That journey saw him passed along from respected trainer Maryann Brosnan to a “reputable show home”.

He then went to a woman who Cheshire said was “getting thoroughbreds off the track and selling them as ‘beginners’ to people who have no idea what they’re doing”.

War Ends was starved and “emaciated” when Cheshire tracked him down on a farm near Toowoomba but the pregnant owner couldn’t keep him so again the jockey intervened.

She found a woman who promised to look after War Ends and who regularly updated her with text message reports on the thoroughbred’s wellbeing.

All was going well until one day when Cheshire asked how War Ends was travelling.

Laura Cheshire will race tonight despite her heartbreak.

“She said she had given the horse away and the people she’d given the horse to took off and she didn’t know where he was,” Cheshire said.

The woman promised to find the new owner’s contact details then she disappeared. Cheshire didn’t see War Ends again until he appeared on TV screens across Australia last night.

“She knew I would’ve rehomed the horse,” Cheshire said.

“That horse did so much. He wasn’t an easy horse and he wasn’t a horrible horse. There’s no reason at all he should’ve ended up there.”

University of Sydney Professor of animal behaviour and welfare science Paul McGreevey watched the harrowing footage with 7.30 reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna.

“Obviously that horse took a while to die,” Prof McGreevey said. “It would have suffered.”

This afternoon, Cheshire will put on a brave face and racing colours and climb aboard Magestical Maiden in race 5 at Ipswich.

She considered not racing, but the 53kg Queenslander who has won $2,692,014 in career prizemoney for owners, loves the animals too much.

Jockey Laura Cheshire says the racing industry in Australia is letting down racehorses.

Cheshire has a message for those who operate abattoirs and knackeries and for Racing Queensland, a body she says “needs to get its sh*t together”.

“Racing Queensland is not coming to the party. They’re not interested. They don’t want to do anything,” she said.

On Facebook, she wrote that the racing industry is “failing racehorses”.

“For anyone who watched the ABC footage on the abhorrent treatment of racehorses in the dogger yards, I urge you to put complaints in writing to the Racing Qld integrity team, on the QRIC (Queensland Racing Integrity Commission) website,” she wrote.

“Currently there is nothing in place in Qld to protect horses after their career has ended. NSW is TRYING!

“Every racing board across the nation needs to clean up this mess we are creating. The over breeding needs to stop!!”

Racing hasn’t always been easy for her. On Christmas Eve in 2010, she fell from a horse at Ipswich and broke her neck.

In an interview with the Gold Coast Bulletin, Cheshire said she was put into a halo brace that required doctors to “drill it into your skull with no pain relief”.

Jockey Laura Cheshire and trainer Joanne Hardy give Real Time Warrior a pat after he won a race.

Good times for Laura Cheshire … Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography

… and the bad.

The two-year-old horse she was riding broke its leg that day.

She said the reason she got back on the horse — and continued to ride despite the dangers — was because of her love for the animals.

“I want to work with horses. I get on horses that haven’t been doing much,” Cheshire said.

“I sort of try and figure them out, why they’re not trying … which is usually why horses end up placing and paying $10 for me.

“A lot of people just don’t try on those horses because they think they’re useless whereas a lot of the time if you do try, you find they can actually run a good race.”

Last night’s program included footage of horses being whipped, kicked and punched, and electric prods used on their genitalia and anuses.

Racing Queensland CEO Brendan Parnell said the footage “was distressing”.

“The inhumane treatment of horses is abhorrent and should not be happening under any circumstances,” he said.

“As an industry, we have a collective responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our horses.”

Racing Australia CEO Barry O’Farrell this morning responded to last night’s program. He told ABC News it showed “appalling” practices.

“(State racing CEO) are doing everything they can just to ensure the sport of racing thrives and flourishes, but also that responsibility for equine welfare is as high as possible within their jurisdictions,” he said. “Of course we condemn it.”

Serious questions have been raised about the welfare of racehorses, with thousands winding up in slaughterhouses.

Racing Victoria responded by promising to audit former racehorses that have not raced for 18 months. Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson said the footage was “sickening”.

“We are sickened by the horrific images that we saw on ABC 7.30 last night, particularly the inhumane treatment of horses at the Queensland abattoir,” he said.

“Abattoirs and knackeries are regulated by state governments and we expect those authorities to ensure animal welfare standards are maintained and compliance is strictly enforced.”

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys said “the vision was sickening and horrendous”.

“Racing NSW calls upon the Queensland Government and its Department of Primary Industries to take the strongest possible action against the alleged perpetrators of such cruelty,” he said.

World Animal Protection head of campaigns Ben Pearson said the footage should be a wake-up call.

“The ABC footage of Australian horses being tormented and slaughtered on an industrial scale is sickening,” he said in a statement.

“If anyone had any faith in the industry’s ability to regulate and protect animals from abuse, it has surely been shattered.

“World Animal Protection opposes the use of all animals in entertainment, including the use of horses in the racing industry. It’s time to end the cruelty.”

In a statement to news.com.au, Racing Queensland CEO Brendan Parnell said the images from the Caboolture abattoir were “distressing.”

“The inhumane treatment of horses – be it thoroughbreds, standardbreds or otherwise – is abhorrent and should not be happening under any circumstance.

“As an industry, we have a collective responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our horses.

“We fully support Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe’s decision to fast-track the industry forum on re-homing and are committed to working alongside the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission and the broader industry to deliver change,” said Mr Parnell.

“This is a national issue. In Australia, there needs to be a system to track horse movement once they leave the industry. A national horse traceability program is critical”.

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