This month sees the start of a new cross-channel scheme where British racing’s official charity, Retraining of Racehorses, will have their funding increased through the introduction of mandatory levies applied to those buying and selling at thoroughbred auctions there.
Goffs UK, Tattersalls and ThoroughBid will each contribute £6 for every lot sold. Levies of £3 each for vendors and purchasers will apply to every horse published as sold at auctions, including online sales.
Central to this is the obligatory element. It is implicit acknowledgment that the racing and bloodstock industries have a fundamental duty, and self-interest, in creating a sustainable future for racehorses once their racing careers are over.
Many owners behave responsibly in such situations including, when all other avenues have been explored, the dignified and painless euthanasia of animals. Others do not. And racing’s reputation is continually being battered by those who don’t live up to their responsibilities.
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Just before Christmas there was the distressing story of an unnamed thoroughbred found tied to a fence in an emaciated state and covered in sores at the Ballinasloe horse fair in October. It was established he’d been on a racecourse just three months before.
That animal is one of thousands that slip through the cracks once their racing usefulness is judged over. Such ‘wastage’ is the flipside of racing’s glamorous image. It’s also a fundamental threat to the social license that allows an animal sport to continue and thrive.
Eliminating cruelty is as impossible as eliminating stupidity. Sometimes it is unintentional. But sometimes it is a heartless tot that sees thoroughbreds sold for a few hundred quid for meat overseas. All of it chips away at racing’s popular status.
The move introduced by the sales companies in Britain is just a single step and far from any kind of fail-safe solution to a massive problem. But it does show enough foresight to recognise how this is only going to increase as a matter of public concern.
It begs the question as to why a similar step isn’t currently on the table in Ireland.
The retraining of racehorses is much further down the road in Britain. Its upside was underlined by a thoroughbred census carried out there which, although far from perfect, indicated that up to 80 per cent of former racehorses could be traced. Such traceability supplies hard data to back up racing’s case. It is seriously inadequate here in comparison.
That is remarkable considering the flipside applies in terms of racing’s economic importance to the respective countries. This is a sector worth €2.5 billion to the Irish economy. Getting on the front foot in terms of welfare should be an urgent priority, even if it’s just in self-serving terms.
The two main sales companies, Goffs and Tattersalls, already give money to rehoming bodies in Ireland that are unfortunately swamped by the scale of the overall problem. They say they are open to discussions on formalising an arrangement along similar lines to their British branches. But they argue, not unreasonably, there needs to be buy-in across the industry on the issue.
And the unfortunate reality is an industry context that often seems little more than an exercise in sitting on one’s hands rather than any meaningful dialogue on what to do with racehorses once they’re no longer needed for racing.
Horse Racing Ireland is opposed to imposing extra levies on owners. The sector’s umbrella body has warned about potential impact on the market as well as individual property rights. Instead, it wants to encourage and educate people on what they should do when it comes to difficult decisions.
However, essentially leaving it to the market simply won’t cut it. Public appreciation of racing’s nuances and practices might be limited. But no expertise is required for even the most uninformed to decide if something is cruel or not.
All of it carries dispiriting echoes of a general complacency that seems to reign in racing here until there is no other option left but to act.
Years of excuses were applied in relation to drug testing on unlicensed premises before blazing headlines almost frogmarched the sector into finally doing what it could and should have done long before. It meant consequent reassurances that everything was rosy in the garden in terms of drugs are still being met with scepticism.
A mandatory levy on animals going through the sales ring sends a signal of intent. There is abundant evidence that simply leaving it up to individuals to do the right thing is a cop out. Failure to take the initiative now will prove much more expensive to racing’s reputation in future.
Irish racing’s default economic instinct is towards the laissez-faire. Ultimately though it must face up to how it must have a systemic responsibility to the animals it produces throughout their lifetime. That costs. But presuming wastage rates don’t need to be faced up to will be a much more costly strategic blunder.
Something for the Weekend
Irish jockey Michael O’Sullivan goes to Windsor today for the ride on Harry Derham’s second-string GIVEMEFIVE (3.35) in an ultra-valuable handicap hurdle. Thanks to his stable companion, and topweight, Bretford Hope, the horse part owned by top golfers Brooks Koepka and Graeme McDowell looks to have a nice racing weight. The ground versatile five-year-old could outrun his odds.
GEORGI GIRL (2.50) goes in a handicap hurdle at Ascot tomorrow where she represents the in-form Philip Hobbs team. A return to the sort of form that saw her win at Warwick in November should see her go close.
