Equine welfare: racing needs a global strategy for what is now a global problem

As 2019 draws to a close it will be remembered as the year when racing around the world finally realised its very existence was threatened.

The message became louder with each passing month, culminating with the public backlash to equine fatalities at Santa Anita and the ABC documentary in Australia that highlighted the dire fate of unwanted racehorses at slaughterhouses. It is no wonder attendance at the following month’s Melbourne Cup was down despite a gloriously sunny afternoon.

Conversely, the most illuminating response from the industry in any part of the world came in California. A group of racetrack grooms and their families stood outside the Santa Anita gates on Breeders’ Cup Saturday to advance racing’s cause. Three-generation descendants of back-stretch employees stood up for their sport.