THOROUGBRED HORSE RACING STUDY

01 AUGUST 2012:

A study profiling the careers of thoroughbred horses racing in Australia between 2000 and 2010 stated…

“Currently little whole population data exists for horses racing in Australia.”

This study was cited internationally including by the USA National Institute of Health (NIH) Library of Medicine and the Equine Veterinarian Journal BEVA.

Why are we looking at studies from 10 plus years ago.

Well according to an article from October 2023 in the Guardian:

The Animal Justice party upper house MP Emma Hurst said: “The unfortunate reality is that no one seems to know how many ex-racehorses are being retired and rehomed in NSW – because this information simply isn’t publicly available”.

Reasons for performing study: Research investigating trends in racehorse careers require a benchmark for accurate comparison.

To determine the range and variation in career length and number of career starts for horses racing in Australia. To document and provide evidence regarding the current differences between the sexes for career length and careers starts.

Methods: Racing data were collected for Thoroughbreds over a 10-year period. Career length, number of career starts and spells per year were evaluated. Statistical analyses were performed using the statistical package R.

So quite frankly, we were not very interested in that reason for the study.  But here’s where it started to get interesting for us…

Results: A total of 2,782,774 performance records yielded career information for 164,046 horses.

Median career length and number of career starts for the population were 14.7 months and 10 starts, respectively.

Did you get that?

164, 046 thoroughbreds in the study.

The median career length and number of career starts for the population were 14.7 months and 10 starts, respectively.

That’s right, 1 year and 2.7 months.

Horses can easily live to be 20, 25 or even 30 years of age and older.

The data shows that thoroughbreds have a career for a very, very small percentage of their lifespan.

We can safely assume that most are well cared for before their racing career, and even during their careers.

Although, having said that, we’ve covered many of the wrongdoings racehorses experience before and during their careers here…

And sadly we know that many racehorses are shipped directly to slaughter after their careers.

Meanwhile the racing industry is attempting to convince us that very few horses end up slaughtered in Australia.

One would have to be naive to believe that the Australian horse racing industry could find homes for all the foals they are responsible for producing each year.

According to the Hansard Transcript of the debate for the Thoroughbred Amendment Act —  in NSW, only 22 horses have been rehomed in the last year.

Only twenty-two horses re-homed — yet look at the numbers of horses exiting racing in the chart above.

The thoroughbred horse racing industry in Australia is currently taking 1.5% of all prize money and earmarking it for horse welfare but there does not appear to be any accountability as to where that money is going, and what it is being used for.

In NSW this amounts to about 6 million dollars.

Fresh questions about fate of retired racehorses as NSW won’t say how many are being rehomed

Mon. 9 Oct. 2023 — From an article in The Guardian:

The Animal Justice party upper house MP Emma Hurst said: “The unfortunate reality is that no one seems to know how many ex-racehorses are being retired and rehomed in NSW – because this information simply isn’t publicly available.

“The annual reports from Racing NSW tabled in parliament each year don’t contain any statistics on how many horses have been rehomed, either privately or through the industry rehoming program.”

Lack of transparency prompts concerns four years after the mass slaughter of horses in abattoirs and knackeries was revealed.

[Racing New Zealand’s] chief operating officer, Graeme Hinton, said: “Since October 2016, Racing NSW has spent over $34m on purchasing and developing properties for use in the care, retraining and rehoming of retired thoroughbred horses.”

But Hinton did not provide any statistics on numbers of horse rehomed by the program, or the results of audits of 1,287 retired horses that Racing NSW says it undertakes on its farms and other rehoming facilities.

Retrainers have reported that the retirement farms are filling up and rehoming has become more difficult in the current economic situation.

Hurst said the lack of transparency in NSW raised serious questions about the fate of the horses leaving the racing industry.

She said the coordination of retirement placements had fallen victim to the dispute between Racing NSW and Racing Victoria, which has stalled resolution of horse welfare issues by Racing Australia.

That left the state with the responsibility to step in, Hurst said.

“The NSW government could intervene to ensure mandatory collection and publication of data concerning racehorses throughout their life, and in particular, the fate of horses leaving the industry, but so far they have failed to put this into place,” she said.  [Read the article here.]

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