It has to go down as the spookiest post-race winning interview ever because Sean Bowen was keen to point out to Alice Plunkett that he was the ONLY ONE wearing a black armband...Minutes later his horse was dead.

I know there was a lot of upset from some of the trainers when their horses were stopped from running in the Melbourne Cup, but when there are days like this you can't blame them taking every precaution in their race that stops the nation and has all the media and country watching.

From BBC website.....fair reporting imo..


Sunday's third and final day of the November Meeting at Cheltenham was overshadowed by the death of three horses.

Abuffalosoldier collapsed after winning the Holland Cooper Handicap Chase, the fourth race of the day.

A statement from the racecourse said the seven-year-old, ridden by Sean Bowen and trained by Warren Greatrex, "was immediately attended (to) by expert veterinary professionals but sadly could not be saved".

They added: "Our heartfelt condolences are with his connections."

Earlier in the same race, Bangers And Cash, from the Ben Pauling yard, also collapsed when it was pulled up after the 14th fence.

In the fifth race of the day, Napper Tandy, trained by Matthew Smith, sustained a fatal injury after falling two hurdles from home.

A British Horseracing Authority spokesperson said: "The losses of Abuffalosoldier, Bangers And Cash and Napper Tandy at Cheltenham today are a tragedy for all connections and the thoughts of all of us at the BHA are with them.

"All three were provided with outstanding care and attention throughout their lives by those who cared for them and nobody will be more heartbroken tonight than those individuals.

"As with all fatalities, we will seek to understand the circumstances behind each incident as we strive to continue to reduce avoidable risk in our sport."

After the deaths of Abuffalosoldier and Bangers and Cash, Liam Kearns, lead veterinary surgeon for Jockey Club Racecourses, told Racing TV: "(In) both cases we call them cardio-vascular collapse, as you can't say at this stage whether it is a true heart attack or whether it is a major blood vessel that has ruptured. But it is of that nature and therefore it is a sudden death situation.

"The vets are deployed all around the racecourse so both horses were attended within seconds and in those situations of acute collapse there are some drugs we can administer but if it is a true cardio-vascular collapse, not a lot can be done.

"It's a high-intensity racing situation. We have similar when marathon runners run or long-distance races are run - there is always a concern that athletes at a high level of exertion can without any previous symptoms present this situation.

"It's a huge coincidence that it happened twice in the same race.

"All horses are thoroughly checked at home before they leave to go to the races, they are monitored carefully when they arrive at the races and trainers and connections love them to bits - no horse would go to the races with any prior knowledge of a situation like this.

"It is one of those sudden things that can strike."

Richard Farquhar
@RCFarquhar
·
53m
What on earth is
@itvnews
doing showing a replay of a horse having a heart attack mid race?
What purpose does that serve?
Shocking editorial decision.

I'd say it what's you do if you're trying to turn public opinion against racing. It's all one big psy-op with these fockers.

1st time poster most of the shoite in UK is utterly countless proportions in light of these all weather 9 race cards with 7 h'caps and 1 occasion 8 h'caps out of 9.
All **** lower grade

Seems rather cannibalistic when it's their channel offering the damned coverage!

Yes, you have to wonder how the ITV racing team are reacting to seeing their own channel's news team covering this.

roggrain17 Nov 24 15:53Joined: 15 Sep 10 | Topic/replies: 4,627 | Blogger: roggrain's blog
All this will be fuel for the animal rights nutters and they won't differentiate between jumps and flat racing.

This is why you have to support jumps racing, even if your sole interest is Flat racing. If you concede the point that the death of a horse is enough to condemn a sport, then you're condemning Flat racing at the same time.

I was at Salisbury on the evening of 24 July, when the 8yo Atty's Edge collapsed and died of a heart attack as he crossed the line at the end of a 5f sprint. Gina Mangan was in tears. But the point is that it does happen, even in sprints. You HAVE to support jumps racing, because, if you don't, you will lose Flat racing at the same time and for the same reason. Both sports suffer fatalities. We have to carry on arguing passionately that horse racing, whatever the code, is a sport and a way of life glorious enough both for us and for the animals involved that it justifies the burden of those those fatalities.

As things stand, Flat racing is being protected by attention being focused on the jumps. Don't lose that protection.

obviously upsetting when this happens but race horses are solely bred to race so without racing the breed would become extinct

Most of these horses are treated better than a lot of kids in this country and racing needs to do more to publicise this to the general public although I would guess most of the general public are pretty ambivalent to racing

you cant have risk free racing  - you can only try and minimise it which racing has tried to do without ruining the spectacle

Thats why I have no issue with the strict checks for the Melbourne Cup as the Australians know best the sensitivities around the race in their own country

You cant appease a group who believe that people shouldnt have pets and would ban the use of guide dogs.

Elliott,shark,Martin,Quinn,mcnally,zahoumi,the 3 day eventer, etc towards the top of the game you've bought in to ed chamberlain/oily bell on steriods if you think horses lower down the food chain are treated better than your kids

Perhaps we sould look at the breeding.
A huge number of NH horses now come from Sadlers Wells male lines and a lot of them including Abuffalosoldier are inbred to him. They might be able to be trained to jump but I'm convinced that whilst Northern Dancer brought speed to the table he also brought physical deficiencies.

equine deaths in horse racing has fallen over the years hasnt it so the point about breeding isnt a significant factor

Changes to race conditions and courses have more of an impact

2 heart related deaths in the same race is a freak occurrence which I doubt will be repeated again. Has it ever happened before?