Hill Sixteen fell at the Grand National (England) today and is dead. It was the second kill of the day, with Dark Raven going down earlier, and the third of the annual three-day event (Envoye Special Thursday). Last year, four horses died. Fittingly, there was a massive protest by animal-rights activists at the start of the day – with, according to Reuters, 118 people arrested. To which I say, bravo, we’re with you in spirit.
Proving, yet again, how tone-deaf (of course there are many other adjectives I could use) these racing people are, Hill Sixteen’s owner, Jimmy Fyffe, told Racing TV: “I am absolutely gutted…. It was heart-breaking. He could be in a field running about and you can lose a horse. … I’ve been in all the stables that I’ve got horses at and they are looked after like kings. They have a great life, they love running, so I’ve not got any qualms with staying in this game.” You’re on the wrong side of history, bud.
like Kings. what a sick joke that is.
Hill Sixteen broke his neck and Dark Raven broke 2 back legs. He went to get up and back end wouldn’t leave the ground. This is just absolutely a barbaric murder fest every year. Running 40 horses in an obstacle course which there is never a good ending. Chances are there are more deaths when they cleared the “fallers” from the field.
Forget the bastards that own and train the horses. You expect them to have no empathy and morals, they are doing it for money, and to stay in the circles of the Royals and other class parasites.
It’s those who support racing by betting and turning on at the day to cheer.
The myth that we are a nation of animal lovers is well and truly bust.
Forget the bastards that own and train the horses. You expect them to have no empathy and morals, they are doing it for money, and to stay in the circles of the Royals and other class parasites.
It’s those who support racing by betting and turning on at the day to cheer.
The myth that we are a nation of animal lovers is well and truly bust.
Institutionalized cruelty. Thankfully there was a large protest, maybe it will get the attention of some of the people who attended the event.
Of course his so-called owner said ‘I love my horses’ yea..he loves them while they’re winning races and giving him five minutes of glory, and, of course, they’re well looked after, once again until they stop winning races or get injured and then its off to the nearest slaughterhouse, collecting the insurance and carcass fee on the way before moving onto their next innocent, defenseless victim…..One commentator actually said that athletes get injured every day, so why are the horses considered any different…talk about being ignorant and brain-dead! Obviously for that absolute cretin, the fact is that horses have NO CHOICE, they are forced to run, whipped within an inch of their lives whether they want to or not, whereas ‘athletes’ can decide NOT to compete.
That “playbook” excuse that the horses have a great life and are treated like kings is the standard morally depraved lie to justify the wanton destruction and killings of racehorses, especially after any steeplechase horse goes down and dies during the big race.
I hope the 118 protesters who were arrested for simply protesting Animal Cruelty and Abuse don’t get treated like “kings” or they might end up dead as well.
Between the lines, this guy was saying that he killed a steeplechase horse, he has no regrets, he enjoyed the hell out of it and that he will kill again given the chance.
There are humans on Twitter saying if the protestors wouldn’t have held up the race,there wouldn’t have been a problem
REALLY????
“No problem” as in there would have been NO DELAY in the horse-killing festivities. The die-hard horse-abusing, horse-doping, horse-killers of racedom might have racked up another kill! I’m sure that’s what they meant. How many more horses could they have injured in the steeplechase race for all the time it took to arrest 118 people?
Unfortunately the BBC while reporting the arrest of 118 protesters, failed to mention the two deaths, the whole point of the demonstrations in the first place.
Typically the BBC doesn’t want to rock the boat in case it loses it’s Charter. Just a sign if management cowardice
That’s understandable that the BBC wouldn’t report the reason why the protesters were protesting. People just have to be smart enough to figure that out on their own, or at least ask why. Hopefully, more and more people will get the picture that racing horses (both on the flat and over jumps) is barbaric and cruel and completely unnecessary.
Sorry – it’s understandable for the BBC not to publish all the facts? So what are they doing calling themselves a news service? EVEN SKY NEWS REPORTED THE DEATHS AS A REASON FOR PROTESTS.
The BBC is not fit for purpose
Ray, I agree with you that it is not okay for any news service not to report the facts! Horses being killed by steeplechase racing is fatal for many horses and it is definitely not okay to subject horses to perform so that their lives are ended.
I said “understandable” but I realized afterwards that was probably not the best choice of words. I didn’t mean that it’s okay, because it is definitely not okay to omit pertinent information and facts. What was their reasoning to leave out anything pertaining to the horses being INJURED and KILLED, if not to cater to the Royal family? Has there been any follow-up reporting on the protesters? Were they released on their own recognance and subject to paying fines??
I just discovered the only animal competition in England I approve of…. ratting with Terriers. Wow, those female dogs really dominate this competition. Now this is ‘sporting’ activity I can get behind 😏. Leave the damn horses alone!
Eddie Arcaro went to England and personally witnessed how high those jumps were (and being the best rider in America, he understood what it would cost a horse to leap those jumps so he commented…”these jocks are crazy.”
It’s insanely barbaric and cruel to demand that any horse clear several different obstacles over a distance of three to four miles while carrying a WHIP-WIELDING jockey on their back weighing in the ballpark of 140 to 150 or so pounds including the tack.
There is no way that there are not going to be several horses drop out of the “competition” with those ridiculous conditions. It’s intentional to force the horses to “do or die” in this industry and even if they don’t die from the excessive demands of an actual race, eventually the connections will unload them to the killbuyers.
It’s simply called Animal ABUSE.