10 March 2023

Ban Jump Racing campaign film viewed 100,000 times in one week

In the run-up to the Cheltenham Festival, the national campaign group at the forefront of opposing the racing industry, Animal Aid, has released a film, detailing the dangers of Jump Racing. The film has already gone viral, being viewed 100,000 times in one week.

Animal Aid's film sets the pomp and back-slapping of jump racing events against the true horrors that befall horses forced to jump dangerous obstacles, and shines a light on the grim reality that the racing industry is so desperate to conceal.

In addition,bus adverts, calling for a ban on Jump Racing, and highlighting the thousands of horse deaths since 2001, are circulating throughout central London.

Horses have died at the Cheltenham Festival every single year since 2000, except for 2001 when the Festival was cancelled due to the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.

Despite changes to the course and a safety review, horses still lose their lives at the Festival - with four horses killed last year.

Says Animal Aid's Horse Racing Consultant, Dene Stansall:
‘Whilst people may realise that large, high-profile events like Cheltenham and the Grand National pose huge risks for horses, many are totally unaware that up and down the country, right through the season, horses are suffering horrific, life-ending injuries such as broken legs and broken backs.

‘Forcing horses to jump obstacles at speed whilst being repeatedly whipped has catastrophic consequences. More than 3,000 horses have been killed in jump racing in Great Britain since 2001.

‘It is for this reason that we are calling for a total ban on jump racing, and we are encouraging our supporters to help spread this message and to ask ITV and BBC Radio 4 to stop promoting animal cruelty.'

Further details:

For more information and interviews, contact Dene Stansall on 07780 756 957.

Animal Aid's campaign to Ban Jump Racing was launched on 1 March 2023.www/.animalaid.org.uk/BanJumpRacing

• Click here to see a list ofthe names and details of all the horses who have died at theCheltenham Festivaland theGrand NationalFestival since 2000.

• Animal Aid's Horseracing Consultant, Dene Stansall, has analysed the issues surrounding Cheltenham Racecourse and the Festival, in his report entitledWhy more horses die at Cheltenham than at any other British racecourse. He has also written a majorbriefing documenton the issues with the Grand National racecourse and event.
  

• In 2007, Animal Aid launched Race Horse Deathwatch - the only public record of the names and details of horses who were killed on British racecourses, compiled using Animal Aid's meticulous research.
  

• Animal Aid's campaign to ban the use of the whip in racing was supported by96 MPs. Apublic opinion poll in 2018found that 68% of respondents oppose the use of the whip in racing.

• Animal Aid's campaign which calls for the creation of an independent body to be responsible for race horse welfare led to aParliamentary debatefive years ago. Animal Aid continues to campaign for the British Horseracing Authority to be stripped of its responsibility for race horse welfare, due to the shocking rate of race horse deaths and injuries.

• In 2021, Animal Aid's undercover footage from a UK abattoir that slaughters horses featured exclusively in a BBC Panorama programme entitled The Dark Side of Horseracing. The programme showed that equines, including horses, from the British and Irish racing industries, were being slaughtered for their meat. One of the horses featured in the programme was top race horse Vyta Du Roc, who was killed for his meat. As a result of the programme, the British Horseracing Authority introduced regulations that make it compulsory for any horse who is racing in Britain to be signed out of the food chain. Animal Aid wants the government to go further and to introduce limits on the numbers of horses who can be produced, because this will result in fewer unwanted horses. For more information, visit: www.animalaid.org.uk/horse-slaughter.