The Melbourne Cup is the “disgrace that stops the nation”, yet some Australian companies continue to sponsor this unethical spectacle.
Anyone with an ounce of humanity can see that whipping sensitive animals in order to win money is depraved.
Then there’s the fact that the horses often die trying. In 2018, 5-year-old Irish Thoroughbred The Cliffsofmoher fell badly, breaking his shoulder. He was killed shortly thereafter.
Other casualties include Verema in 2013, Admire Rakti and Araldo in 2014, Red Cadeaux in 2015, and Regal Monarch in 2017.
Bred for speed at the expense of health and supporting large frames on petite ankles, horses die at the rate of one every three days on Australian racetracks.
While no concrete figures exist for “wastage” – that is, foals bred but never registered for racing – estimates suggest there are approximately 2,000 such horses in the industry per year. Because these animals never represent a return on investment, they’re destroyed or neglected – and some are even left to starve.
Exposed Again and Again
Regardless of pedigree or past earnings, many horses bred for racing are discarded once they are no longer useful.
A 2020 investigation followed the fate of ex-racing Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses to two Sydney knackeries, where hidden cameras captured their slaughter and sale as food for companion animals.
Many of the horses seen there were officially listed as “retired” on the Racing Australia website. And in 2019, ABC’s 7.30 program revealed that around 300 horses used for racing went through a single abattoir in Queensland in just 22 days.
Horses bred by the Australian racing industry are also sometimes sold to the racing industry in South Korea, where they’re slaughtered for meat when they’re no longer considered useful.
A PETA exposé of that country’s largest horse abattoir shows cast-offs from the racing industry being beaten repeatedly in the face as they’re forced into the abattoir and killed for their flesh.
Take Action!
Sponsors foot the bill for much of the Melbourne Cup race day, paying for advertising and expensive marquees at the track.
Petition: https://secure.peta.org.au/page/67333/action/1
And I mean…The total prize money of the Melbourne Cup is approximately $ 7.3 million, of which a good half goes to the winner.
Elegant hats, high bets – and lots of alcohol: a national spectacle with a dark side, the massive animal suffering.
The Melbourne Cup is the party of the year in Australia, what the Australians call “Folk festival“.
Monarchs go too, like Prince Charles with his Camilla.
Horses are flight animals who are forced to take risks in races that they would never voluntarily take.
For high prize money, the unscrupulous horse mafia accepts lung hemorrhages, aortic tears, and stomach ulcers approvingly.
The overload often leads to falls with serious consequences or to so-called aortic ruptures, in which the main artery of the heart ruptures with the result that the animal bleeds internally within a very short time.
Bloody nostrils can be observed in many animals shortly after a race.
It is not nosebleed, but bleeding from the lungs.
Racehorses are tortured and beaten to the point of death. They either die on the racetrack or end up in the slaughterhouse as soon as their performance deteriorates. Who thinks that’s good?
Only persons who are directly or indirectly involved in this billion-dollar business. There is no justification whatsoever for the cruelty inflicted on these animals.
According to press reports, 20 horses die every year in Germany on the track or immediately after the race, eight horses in 2019 alone. How many are killed in training is unknown.
Horses are sentient and sensitive animals. They are not sports equipment made of metal or plastic.
We are all responsible for making horse racing stop.
My best regards to all, Venus
World Animals Voice 