A vet and academic has urged all of horse racing’s stakeholders to work together to help reduce the number of equine fatalities on UK racecourses.

The plea came as BEVA Congress delegates were told that the sport in Australia would be “finished” without a dramatic reduction in casualty levels around its most prestigious race.

But the association’s outgoing president called on delegates to “show the benefits” of their sport-based work, while being aware of public concerns.

Debate around the ethics of using animals in sporting competition has widened considerably in recent times, following several high-profile cases and protests.

Social licence

A full stream on the opening day of the Liverpool conference was dedicated to questions relating to the social licence of disciplines, such as horse racing, which has been among the sports under scrutiny.

Figures presented at the 12 September session showed five equine fatalities per 1,000 starts in national hunt races on British racecourses between 2010 and 2023, a total of 1,932 individual deaths, with 794 fatalities – the equivalent of 0.9 per 1,000 starts – on the flat.

Kristien Verheyen, professor of veterinary clinical epidemiology at the RVC, argued those levels could be reduced further, but only through a collective effort from all of the sport’s stakeholders.

She called for greater sharing of information between regulatory jurisdictions, adding: “Everyone must be committed and get behind this as a collective goal.

“It’s not going to be possible if everyone thinks it’s just a regulator problem or up to academics to provide the answer.”

Pre-race checks

The message of collaboration was taken up by the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) head of equine regulation, Sally Taylor, who claimed their system of pre-race veterinary checks on runners had strengthened relationships between the regulator and private clinicians.

Delegates heard that more than 17,000 individual checks had been carried out since the programme began at the Cheltenham Festival five years ago, with only 0.6 per cent of runners, 100 individual horses, withdrawn from races in that time.

Dr Taylor acknowledged that the checks were not universally popular with trainers, but insisted: “We are not withdrawing horses without due cause”.

Stark reminder

A stark reminder of the potential risks to the sport was also provided by Chris Whitton, as he argued that fatalities linked to Australia’s most famous contest, the Melbourne Cup, had to be reduced substantially to safeguard the sport’s future.

He described a period of five deaths in the race in 10 years, and 11 across the Melbourne Spring Carnival of which the cup is part, as “not acceptable” and said a spate of injuries had been seen in neighbouring New South Wales, where the enhanced checks were not in place.

He went on to warn: “Unless we get that down to less than one death in 10 years, racing in Australia is finished.”

Eugenio Cillán-Garcia, the founder of Esk Veterinary Consultants, added: “Racing is under threat. We need to understand that.”

But, in his final address before stepping down from the role, outgoing BEVA president Roger Smith said the current focus on equine sports should not be viewed as a “disaster” that would inevitably lead to their demise.

He said: “We just need to be knowledgeable of public perception and show the benefits of what we do.”