• Reading Level 5
Physical Education | Citizenship | PSHE

Shocking photos shame the ‘sport of kings’

Should horse racing be banned? Pictures of a prominent trainer and a jockey disrespecting dead horses have outraged fans and critics of the sport alike, sparking debate about animal rights. June 19, 2019. The horses were galloping faster and faster. A mass of manes, tails and hooves began to separate as the race unfolded, and a likely winner poked its head from out of the pack. Soon, some horses were lengths behind, forgotten. Bay Hill had triumphed. The Boylesports Beginner’s Chase at Wexford was over. Morgan was one of those forgotten horses. He died during training two weeks after that race, in which he finished a respectable fourth. Now, however, Morgan will forever be fixed in the memory of racing fans. That is because a photo has emerged of his trainer, Gordon Elliott, astride his corpse. The trainer, who twice won the Grand National, seems too comfortable by half, smiling as he chats on the phone while sitting on an animal that has been worked to death. Elliott has apologised for his lack of respect and the horses he trains have been banned from British races. The day after the photo leaked, a video emerged of a jockey sitting on another dead horse. For many, these are signs that the racing industry has no concern for the creatures on whose backs its money is made. Racing – and the training for it – can take a severe toll on horses. The UK animal rights group Animal Aid claims that one in every 37 horses that start a racing season will die or be destroyed because of an injury. This is the ugly side of racing, which styles itself as a noble pursuit, built on a bond between rider and steed forged over thousands of years. Archaeological evidence about horse riding suggests that horses were first domesticated in what is now Kazakhstan around 3500BC. Horses allowed hunters to cover more ground; warriors could charge their enemies; and horses could even do the work of many people, making farming easier. Horsepower remade the world. This transformation may be why horses are celebrated in myths from India to Scandinavia. For many, the ultimate celebration of the world humans and horses made together is racing. The chariot race was a major event in the Ancient Olympics. In the 4th Century BC, a Chinese general made his name with a strategy for winning horse races. As it is practised now, horse racing follows rules that were largely established in Britain and Ireland. It is because of the British and their monarchs that racing is known as “the sport of kings”. In the early 1600s, James I spent so much time riding horses in the small village of Newmarket that complaints were raised in parliament. It was there that his grandson Charles II became the first and only king to win an official race. Newmarket is still an important racecourse, and horse racing on flats and jumps has spread around the world, from Kentucky to Dubai. This tradition is part of what has helped make horse racing a big business. An even bigger business is the gambling alongside it, which is worth around $115bn a year. With so much money at stake, some think that racing has lost sight of the true value of horses. So should horse racing be banned? Horseplay No, say some. The actions of a few should not distract from the fact that racehorses are treated with far more care and respect than most other animals kept by humans. Would you rather be a racehorse or a dairy cow, let alone a caged chicken? This is a sport that is enjoyed by millions and has been practised by countless cultures for thousands of years. Yes it should, say others. For five hundred years, one of Britain’s most popular pastimes was torturing a bear chained to a pole. Tradition is no excuse, and just as bear-baiting has disappeared, so should horse racing. In the UK alone, 140 horses died while racing in 2020. A new sport that killed horses at that rate would be greeted with public uproar and banned instantly. KeywordsScandinavia - The name given collectively to Denmark, Norway and Sweden, three of the northernmost countries of Europe. The three countries have similar languages and political systems.

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