BEST of the BETS

I will happily come back as a well cared for race horse. They have a wonderful life in most cases.Nevertheless it's .very sad when horses break down..

I didn’t see the race, but yes it’s horrible when something like this happens. I understand how you feel, and I would be asking myself same questions do we really care and can we do anything about it? And to be honest, I would be struggling to find answers.

I think Aypee has summed it up really well, and I will second everything he said.

i think they should ban jumps racing
its cruel and loads die racing horses till exhaustion and expecting them to jump fences with a bloke on top

but they wont and thats just my view so dont get annoyed.
and i agree with AP

joe, weve been here before havent we? And flogging a useless 39 rated half to death in the Southwell shifting sands isnt cruel? The poor thing cant go faster because its useless. You travel around Britain and see half starving horses looking miserable as hell and that isnt cruel? Belting a horse over 5 furongs to try and make it go faster isnt cruel? Either the whole of racing, flat or jumps, is cruel or they are not. You cant split hairs because you like one over the other? jump horses outlive flat horses 2 to 1. Why? well if the flat horse is no good and cant race, it usually ends up on a French, Spanish or Belgian table, samje as Farmer Giles best Fresian. Go to David Elsworths and see all his old horses in their20s roaming happily around the field and STILL being looked after as royalty.

Horses are meant to jump and run. Have you ever tried making something move that weighs over 1/2 a ton? Why do you think riderless horses carry on jumping? Theres no jock making them is there?

Look either the whole thing is cruel and senseless or the whole thing is not. i cant understand what you see "interesting " in seeing a moderate animal run in a circle on a surface that never changes (alledgely) but thats your thing and i respect that. i like flat turf and Jumps, thats my thing.

I know one thing, id rather be born a racehorse than a cart horse in a Gypsy camp!

Now onto the very sad subject. It IS awful seeing a horse suffer and noone wants that, but even the RSPCA admit a racehorse is better cared for than any other horse and that statistically if you look at the amount of times horse run per year versus fatalities, you will find it is a tiny % and more die everyday in ordinary fields and camps around Britain each day.

So either we continue to strive to make things as safe as possible for horse and jockey or ban the whole thing. Joe, given your views, the latter would be the only course of action.

But as i said, i respect your view even though i find it flawed and disagree totally. thats what this board is about, discussion and differing views.

Good points Hippo.

yes good points taken hippo