Betting on a race may seem like harmless fun, but there are never any winners when it comes to horse racing. Will you commit to boycott this Autumn Racing Carnival and help end this cruel sport?
Help protect horses who are forced to suffer for human entertainment by pledging to boycott cruel horse racing events this Autumn Racing Carnival.
Image credit: Farm Transparency Project
Why is horse racing cruel?
You may have been made to believe that horse racing is a “glamorous sport.” But did you know at least 139 horses lost their precious lives on Australian racetracks between August 2021 and July 2022?
However, the ruthless horse racing industry remains unfazed by this and continues to focus on making huge profits even though it is the animals involved that pay the real price.
The industry is primarily fuelled by people betting on or attending cruel racing events. Horses are made to endure harsh training regimes and pushed to the limit during races, only to be abandoned or brutally killed in slaughterhouses when they stop being “profitable.”
Right now, more than 35,000 of these vulnerable animals trapped in this cruel industry urgently need your help.
You can help protect them by pledging to boycott the Autumn Racing Carnival from September to November this year and show the industry that it is time to end this cruelty.
A lifetime of physical and mental trauma in the name of sport
Horse racing is a cruel excuse for sport that involves causing intentional harm to horses to “enhance” their performance.
Jockeys are allowed to strike horses with a “padded” whip five times before the 100-metre mark of a race. After crossing this mark, a helpless horse could be brutally struck multiple times until the finish line.
Another cruel practice is using tongue ties to immobilise a horse’s tongue. This is done so the horse doesn’t choke while being made to run at high speeds. Horses with tongue ties have been observed showing signs of severe pain, anxiety and distress.
As horses are naturally social, plains-ranging animals, restricting them from expressing their natural behaviours also causes several of them to display harmful behaviours such as crib-biting (repetitive oral behaviour where the horse sucks in a large amount of air) and self-mutilation.
When these sensitive animals are pushed too hard during a race they can suffer from Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage, a condition in which they bleed into their lungs and windpipe.
There is no excuse to subject a living being to such physical and mental trauma for human entertainment.
Horse wearing a tongue tie, Flemington Racecourse, Australia. Image credit: Farm Transparency Project
You can help save horses from this cruel cycle of abuse
There has been growing public concern about the horrific cruelty involved in horse racing, yet the industry is allowed to largely govern itself in terms of animal welfare.
Every year, at least 40 per cent of racehorses are abandoned and discarded because of poor performance, illness, injury or behavioural issues. All of these issues could stem from these thinking, feeling animals being overexerted, housed in subpar conditions, and lacking social stimulation.
Despite the industry claiming to be committed to animal welfare, an ABC 730 investigation in 2019 exposed the horrific mass slaughter of racehorses in Australia.
There is no reason to make horses face a life of pain and misery and suffer an agonising death for the sake of gambling profits.
Will you please help protect horses in Australia by pledging to boycott this Autumn Racing Carnival?
Distressed horse in the washbay, Flemington Racecourse, Australia. Credit: Farm Transparency Project
Animals in sport
Using animals in sports often involves causing intentional harm and inflicting violence on these sentient beings.
Where to go if you don’t want to watch the Melbourne Cup horse racing cruelty
News
Not into the horse racing cruelty at the Melbourne Cup? You’re not alone. It may be the race that stops the nation, but many more Australians are now saying “nup to the cup” and boycotting this cruel event.
Will you protect animals?
Every animal deserves a life worth living – from captive lions used for trophy hunting to mother pigs in cages in factory farms.