Four Horse Died At Newton Abbott Today.

Industry will be hoping nobody notices.

summer jumping an abomonination

trainers shouldnt enter their horses

crackers to have 3 mile chases at 30 degrees. im a jumps punter but this is sick

Animal Aid
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Four race horses perished at Newton Abbot Racecourse today - 25 June - racing’s darkest day in 17 years.
Hallowed Rose suffered a broken neck; Bala Brook and Cuzzicombe were injured then destroyed; & 3yo Happy Helen collapsed dead after being brutally whipped. #BanJumpRacing

Can't seem to see any mention of this on the Racing Post website.

Seems like business as usual, though that was an appalling death toll for one day's racing.

Oh dear! I think it's only right horseracing around the world or at least the UK to stop horseracing for a week for the solidarity of the horses killed or future deaths of racehorses on racecourses.

This is unacceptable for a sport held mainly for the benefit of the bookies. RIP Hallowed Roses, Bala Brook, Cuzzicombe and Happy Helen!

Despite Luke Harvey's insistence the ground is "perfect summer racing ground", the reality is horses falling on it is very unforgiving. I didn't think Happy Helen was "brutally whipped"; the horse was up with the pace and the jockey was trying to restrain it until it suddenly dropped to the tail of the field about 1/2m from home. I saw the jockey whip it three times before it dropped out of the picture, presumably pulled up.

A hot day but still 17 pulled up apart from fallers and ran out - not a good advert for summer jumping. They ought to have at least six weeks off.

I can't remember which horse it was, but I saw one NH race over the winter in which one of the runners was clearly in trouble as it dropped back rapidly through the field fairly early in the contest, i.e. before coming under pressure Clearly the horse wasn't going to win and needed pulling up, but the jockey still gave it two or three real whacks before you saw the horse suddenly veer off to the left and go out of shot. It collapsed and died on the spot of a heart attack. The only mitigating circumstance was that the jockey was a conditional, but it still begs the question why you would beat seven shades of sh*t out of an animal in distress... .

The ride on Happy Helen similar to the above. Weakened through the field and about to tail off when the jock gives her three smacks. Unacceptable.

Whilst I basically agree about whipping a horse in distress the fact is if the horse returned fit and well the jockey would be accused by plenty on here and elsewhere of making no effort.

2024 And we are still whipping horses you couldnay make it up ffs.

And not even willing to experiment to see what racing would look like without horses being hit - continually pandering to the bubble, and particularly the jocks, anyone would think they actual like the idea of hitting horses.

I agree at least have a trial period.By all means carry a whip for correctional purposes only.

Echo the last 2 posts, more often than not the whip causes horses to move all over the place and become unbalanced

I've always said, no jump racing from 1st June to the 1st August.
and no 3 mile races until 1st Sept

I couldn't agree more with the last 3 posts. I went racing with some 1st timers the other week. When I asked if they'd enjoyed one said I did but why do they hit the horses so much. No wonder the game is on it's backside.

The deaths of four horses during racing at Newton Abbot on Tuesday afternoon are set to be investigated by the BHA to determine their cause and any role the racing surface may have played in the fatalities.

Happy Helen, Hallowed Rose, Bala Brook and Cuzzicombe died during the fixture, while Great Colewood was also reported to have finished lame and Holerday Ridge bled from the nose.

The BHA said that four fatalities at a single meeting is “extremely rare”, with it most recently happening at Musselburgh in December 2018. However, there have been three equine deaths at two racedays in the last month, at Market Rasen on June 7 and at Cartmel on May 27.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the BHA said: “Our thoughts are with everyone connected to the horses who suffered fatal injuries yesterday. The loss of any horse is always a dreadful occurrence for the owners, trainers and stable staff who provide them with outstanding care and attention throughout their lives, and so a day like yesterday is one that deeply saddens all of us who love the sport.

“Losing four horses at a single fixture is extremely rare, but this does not reduce the seriousness with which the BHA takes this matter. All four deaths will be thoroughly investigated to understand as best as possible how they occurred, and a report will also be compiled on the condition of the course, which is being assessed in order to ascertain whether there are any concerns regarding the racing surface.”

Fatality rates in British racing dropped marginally last year compared to the previous year, with 158 deaths recorded from 87,619 runners, equating to a fatality rate of 0.18 per cent. The rate of jumps fatalities was the joint-lowest this century, with 112 deaths recorded from 29,947 runners, a rate of 0.37 per cent.

In addition, to coincide with this year's Grand National meeting at Aintree, British racing launched its HorsePWR campaign, highlighting the high welfare standards in the sport and providing facts and information to the public via the horsepwr.co.uk website.

A spokesman for Newton Abbot said the course had been in contact with the BHA after Tuesday's fixture but was unable to comment further until a report had been compiled by the clerk of the course.

Commodities - greed = eight week break during summer break…..

Probably won’t happen tho as it will be forgotten already the chief of the pudding race has to be noticed…

Hypocrites…..all involved in the sport..including punters…

I’ve witnessed it on course at Musselburgh jumps two in one race….

“Oh my god that’s terrible “……then in a later race can I have 6/4 please …..ffs

Whip will be gone in the next 3-5 years, it will be the only way that racing will be able to continue in this country.

I wonder how many died on the gallops, died in the field, died in their stable yesterday

Now now it’s a pro Cush not a whip,Sky has them all brainwashed regarding this nonsense….

the dealer 26 Jun 24 12:13 
I wonder how many died on the gallops, died in the field, died in their stable yesterday

dealer, a couple of days ago The Cruising Lord was a NR, rated over 100 once upon a time, reason for being a NR? "deceased".

There was a time in the trade papers when they used to publish the names of horses who had died under the heading of something like - scratchings (all engagements dead) - there was usually a fair number listed.

Just curtail the sport. You cannot have 365 days of horseracing - day and evening - without injury or deaths to horses. I'm sure if there is only horseracing 3x a week it will not be missed by the majority except bookies - the scourge of society; the sycophants will never be satisfied until the last drop of blood from the punters and horses is drawn.

The BHA ought to be renamed the Bl**dy Hopeless Authority. They are aligned with the bookies; bookies say jump, BHA asks how high? The BHA is not fit for purpose; it's demise was gathering pace in earnest when Mr Rust was appointed from the rank of the bookies.

Whatever your views i reckon CROPSICK's correct , only a matter of time before it's banned completely which will be only one of multiple adjustments for the sport to survive as we just about recognize it.

I remember that George, I wonder why is was stopped.

One is one too many but you have to consider the fragility of the breed. Our trainer had no issues, then lost 3 in a week.

If you genuinely care about horse welfare, don't attend meetings or bet on summer jumps. I used to enjoy Newton Abbot but haven't visited since they switched to a summer jumping calendar. It's money first, horse welfare a distant second. Look at how Henderson deals with his best horses , they dont run unless conditons are perfect for jumping. He has more valuable 'commidities' to look after, and that's all horses are after all. Syndication has also been bad for the horses, people are less attached to them when they only own half a hoof.

wondersobright • June 25, 2024 3:07 PM BST
looks like an inch of water a few days ago wouldn't have gone a miss this looks exceptionally quick ground

wondersobright • June 25, 2024 3:10 PM BST
rookie clerk producing 8+ patchy g/f, can never recall ground like this during loosemore's tenure

Henderson,LOL……and they end up getting injured anyway.

whos watching wuster today?

not me

Simon Nott getting called out on Twitter for saying what a fantastic day it was at newton abbot yesterday that to me is racing in denial or just hoping no one mentions it.

The All Engagements (dead) list was only of relevance when entries for every race closed weeks in advance. There's no need for it now that we have the internet and entries for nearly every race are made a few days beforehand. If the horse has died, it doesn't get entered in the first place.

The whip is a guide to the horse, not a punishment or a persuader. When the tapes go up or the stalls open, a horse only gallops because it wants to. If it doesn't, it sticks its heels in. Same with jumping an obstacle. If a horse doesn't want to do something, then nothing a human being can do will persuade it to do so. It's nothing specifically to do with racing. Anyone who's dealt with horses will tell you that if a horse doesn't want to go up the ramp into the lorry, it simply won't. Even a broomstick won't work. But where the broomstick does work is to tell them that this is what we want them to do, and life will be happier for all concerned if they do cooperate. Same with those little "whips" the jockeys carry.

Without a riding crop (or a broomstick), most horses will just take the p1ss. They don't speak English, remember. They need a simple language, easily understandable.

Incidentally, there were thousands of racegoers at Newton yesterday and at Worcester again today. There were four specimens standing outside Newton and three outside Worcester demanding that horse racing be banned. Both those protestor numbers were a third of what they were last year. Social media is not reality.

Social media is thinking that reality is the screen in front of you, not the complicated world outside, where the same thing can be both glorious and deflating, and where mature people, when they don't like something, simply go and find something else which they do like.

Who knows? Maybe one day sufficient numbers will stay away from Newton Abbot and Worcester in June that GB summer jumping will disappear once more. And if it happens that way - by people voting with their feet - then that's fine.

What's not fine is a ban being imposed by the kind of 24/7 screen dweller who thinks that a flight animal sourced from the Middle East gets distressed galloping for three miles at 30C in its summer coat.

I wonder how many died on the gallops, died in the field, died in their stable yesterday


There isn't much research but there is this:

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/default/files/equine15_is_mortality.pdf


basically death rate of 1.4% so greater than for racing but isn't like for like as ages not same.

Cheers for that

Went to Worcester yesterday.....at least 2 gone there.....

There certainly used to be a break of about 6/7 weeks between mid-June and,more or less,the end of July,but Newton Abbot,Devon and Exeter and,I think,Market Rasen,began by the beginning of August. I go back to the early 60s,presumably before watering,and the ground was usually described as "hard".
screaming's explanation of why the dead horses list disappeared sounds correct,though I must admit it had never occurred to me. It used to appear every week in the old Sporting Chronicle Handicap Book. As GEORGE said the list was quite large. It did include horses who died on the racecourse but they were a minority. Most presumably died on the gallops,were cast in their box fatally,or succumbed to colic or some other equine disease. They are a fragile breed but have become more so through selective inbreeding over centuries.

The shame about our sport now is that it is being hijacked by people who have only one interest in it and that is making money, Arc racing, bookies, are the two most notable entities but you could add big public syndicates,breeders,sale houses certain media organisations, unfortunatly there has become a large amount of people who now innocently rely on the overinflated growth of racing for a living (Jockeys, trainers, grooms, feed suppliers,media, list goes on and on) and this narrative that to cutback on racing will be devastating for jobs, whilst true, it is being used by the moneymakers  like a gun to the head of the likes of the BHA etc. It is like the poor sods who line up at the chemist ever morning for their fix, take it away and they will be in a fast decline keep giving them it and it will be a slow decline only until they eventually  depart.

Horses do what they are trained to do. Given the choice how many would prefer to run about wild in a field rather than have someone on top whipping them for entertainment? They don't get that choice. Plenty run loose avoiding fences or try to return to the stables.

Let's have that experiment, and let's actually see how 'many take the piss'.

So do more horses (prop) die on course during the summer then - stats anyone? HDW don't do it by month for some reason.

Cash driven sport like most and no one cares what happens…..4 dead and can I have another bet……

Like a dodgy / bad ride it you haven’t played you ain’t interested…..

And, do not forget to give horses a rest. They are  all not built the same; some could be a bit fragile than others like their human counterpart.

Flogging a dead horse is never the way forward. Bookies beware!

Summer jumpers for the most part get their rest over the winter when the ground is not usually to their taste.
It's a/w specialists who seem to keep going all year round.