The 7-year-old gelding Rebel Racer became the second victim of the 2024 jumps racing season in Victoria when he fell and was subsequently killed during a jumps racing trial in Warrnambool on 19 April.
The fall that led to the killing of Rebel Racer in the jumps trial has been cut from the race-replay, something that is sadly becoming common conduct in horse races in Victoria.
What’s most disturbing, however, is that his fall was not recorded in the race results. Neither was the fall of 8-year-old Pearlman that happened in an earlier trial on the same day. Instead, both these falls was recorded as “Failed to Finish”.
Whilst both Rebel Racer and Pearlman indeed did fail to finish, it is highly misleading not to record the falls that had caused them to not finish. Falling is the most common reason horses are killed in jumps racing and in last years season every one in ten jumps horses suffered a fall.
As such, if our faithful volunteer hadn’t been there to film the trials on 19 April, the two falls of which one was fatal, would not have been disclosed to the public and would not be counted into the statistics of incidents in jumps racing in Victoria.
Join us Protesting the Warrnambool Jumps Racing Carnival 2 May
Rebel Racer wasn’t Listened to
This was Rebel Racer’s first season in jumps racing. In his very first jumps trial on 7 March 2024 in Terang, he fought so hard to refuse one of the hurdles that he crashed into and broke the running rail to the side of the hurdle.
As someone commented on the video of Rebel Racer crashing through the rail; How loud does a horse need to shout before he is listened to?
This crash, however, didn’t discourage Rebel Racer’s owners from trialling him again on 3 April. He was trialled once again on 19 April, this time ending his life when he suffered a catastrophic fall over a hurdle and was killed behind the green screen.
Rebel Racer had already won more than $400,000 for his owners when they decided to risk his life entering him into the deadliest form of racing.
Fly free, Rebel Racer. We will continue to fight for an end to jumps racing in Victoria.
The owners are horrible people. They should be charged with reckless endangerment.
Horrendous. Why are people in the horse racing industry so bereft of decency and kindness?
thank god the volunteer was there to get the two falls on video. This needs to stop. I have had horses all my life. Seeing these beautiful animals abused like this and even loosing their lives, for what? The horse racing industry is inhumane. It’s all about the money. The horses are disposable. It really needs to stop!
Once again in a line of hundreds of thousands yet another “failed” jumps racing horse is killed unnecessarily by those who only care about blood money. How heartbreaking that this beautiful horse so feared being forced over fixed hurdles that he tried to avoid them by crashing through the rails instead thus succumbing to his demise on track? The terror that this poor horse & thousands before him must have been innsumounrable.
Having attended many jumps racing meets with CPR & photographed & filmed the atrocities that occur on various Victorian racetracks this comes as no surprise to those of us who want this vile cruelty banned immediately.
Racehorse owners use the tired old chestnut of professing to “love” their horses. How does the use of jiggers, anti rearing bits, tongue ties, electric cattle prods & banned substances administered to racehorses account as “love?” How does yelling & swearing at racehorses plus the brute force by the barrier attendants account as “love” not to mention the fact that they twist horses tails plus grab & hold onto an ear to stop horses from rearing up in an attempt not to be forced into the barriers? These, plus the whole industry, are just some of the very many ghastly tactics used on beautiful, sensitive & sentient Thoroughbreds.
If this was seen outside of racetracks at (for example) pony clubs the response to immediately stop such abuse would end. However people are still blinded & brainwashed by the “glamour” of the race track plus simply going along for a booze infested betting spectacular.
Slowly though there are some very encouraging signs that numbers of people who go to the races are decreasing. In jumps racing l have monitored that it is (usually) the owners, trainers & syndicates that attend these open blood baths.
Jumps racing is equivalent to bull fighting. Sadly those that attend the latter are drawn to this by the danger, pomp & ceremony. The same also applies to jumps racing. It is the money those who profess to “loving our horses” that they love. As long as their horse continues to win they will love it. There is no compassion in an industry that breeds horses where 6 month foals end up in cans & hundreds of injured jumps racing horses go the same way once they have been broken down by this ruthless & sickening industry.
It is time the jumps racing industry is killed & not the horses.