British and Irish racing at the centre of Panorama documentary

British and Irish racing will find itself at the centre of a Panorama documentary next Monday that purports to shine an uncomfortable light on what happens to horses after their careers in racing are finished.

The documentary, which carries the title 'The Dark Side of Horse Racing', will be broadcast on BBC One at 8.30pm and is expected to focus on horses who are euthanised or end up in the food chain via British abattoirs.

It is uncertain who will figure in the documentary, although the Racing Post understands there will be British and Irish elements to the piece. Some trainers who have been contacted by the programme makers have elected not to comment at this stage due to the uncertainty over what will appear in the final cut.

A blurb advertising the documentary on the BBC website reads: "Horseracing is one of the most popular and profitable sports, a £5 billion industry in the UK and Ireland followed by millions. Panorama reporter Darragh MacIntyre investigates what can happen to racehorses when their careers end.

"The industry says that racing is now safer than ever, that the number of deaths on the track is falling and that the animals are looked after in retirement. Panorama discovers that off the track, many horses suffer career-ending injuries, and rather than being rehabilitated or retrained for life outside the sport, racehorses that have been owned and trained by some of the biggest names in the industry, have been put down, some meeting grisly deaths."

Neither the BHA nor Horse Racing Ireland wished to comment on the documentary without knowing the details of what will be shown.

Panorama has previously broadcast damaging racing exposes, with its 2002 episode entitled 'The Corruption of Racing' focusing primarily on poor practice within what was then the Jockey Club, prior to a 2008 episode called 'Racing's Dirty Secrets'. That probe ultimately led to trainer Karl Burke being disqualified for a year for associating with the warned-off gambler Miles Rodgers, while jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams also served suspensions for their respective roles in a race-fixing saga.

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