The death of Niceonefrankie at the Cheltenham Festival brought the tally of fatalities to five in the opening three days of the meeting.
Venetia WIlliams' 10-year-old, winner of the December Gold Cup at the track two years ago, fell late on in the Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate.
His unfortunate passing added to those of The Govaness, Rezorbi and Pont Alexandre, who suffered fatal injuries on the opening day of the meeting, while it was confirmed on Thursday morning that No More Heroes had been put down after damaging a tendon in the RSA Chase on Wednesday.
Sophia Dale, communications manager for Jockey Club Racecourses South West, said: "Niceonefrankie sustained an injury in the fifth race of the day and was sadly put down due to the nature of the injuries he sustained and our thoughts are with his connections.
"The other horse in the race, Quincy Des Pictons, was walked on to a horse ambulance and taken away for assessment and will be transferred to a veterinary hospital in the not too distant future."
Speaking earlier in the day, RSPCA equine consultant David Muir admitted the deaths are "deeply concerning" but was keen to assess each case individually, rather than make a knee-jerk reaction to the incidents.
He said: "Obviously the deaths are deeply concerning to us, but we need to consider each fatality individually before making an informed comment.
"I look at the fatalities once the meeting is over and the first thing I do is satisfy myself that the course was prepared in the right manner and from there we look at the issues relating to each death.
"I look at any issues of culpability and then see what we can learn for the future and once we have finished, hopefully the British Horseracing Authority take our comments on board.
"I've been concerned by the way hurdles react in races and have recently been looking at the issue of penultimate and ultimate hurdles where the fields really start to race and the possibility of an increased risk."
Muir admits the sheer volume of runners at the Festival must be taken into consideration as the number of contenders far outstrips regular day-to-day action.
He said: "You have to consider the number of horses racing on any day at the Festival.
"You can't really compare Haydock or Hexham, with five or six runners, to Cheltenham, where there are 20 or 22 runners in many of the races. The competitiveness of the races might be an issue, but what are you supposed to do, ask the jockeys to race slowly? That would be beyond my remit."
Jenny Hall, chief veterinary officer for the British Horseracing Authority, said racing's rulers were "committed to working with racecourses to reduce the level of this risk".
She said: "Further to our statement on Tuesday, we would like to express our sincere sadness at the news of the loss today of Niceonefrankie, and to express our sympathies with the stable staff who cared for the horse, its owner and trainer and all connections.
"We make every effort to ensure the highest standard of welfare for all horses in our sport, and set the highest standards for all licensed participants, including trainers and jockeys and racecourses. British racing employs more than 6,000 people to provide first class care and attention for all 14,000 horses in training, who enjoy an exceptionally high quality of life.
"As with all equine activity, racing carries a level of risk, for both horse and jockey. We are committed to working with racecourses to reduce the level of this risk and over the last 20 years, the equine fatality rate has fallen a third to 0.18 per cent for all types of races, and to 0.39 per cent for jump racing. The risk of serious injury or death remains low, given the fact that there are around 90,000 runners each year.
"We remain committed to ensuring that our sport continues to maintain world-class standards of equine care, and working to continually improve them in order to reduce the inherent risks involved so that racehorses can do what they are bred to do and the sport can continue to be enjoyed by more than six million racegoers each year.
"As is the case with all equine injuries, we'll work with Cheltenham to assess the incidents that took place this week and see what we can learn from them."
No comments:
Post a Comment