MEDIA RELEASE FRIDAY 21ST MARCH 2025:
Through a ‘Government Information Public Access’ (GIPA) application to Racing NSW, the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) can reveal there was almost three times as many racehorses recorded as being killed from racing in 2023/24 than it was possible to find via public records.
By scrutinising public Stewards reports, media articles and tip offs from racing informants, CPR’s annual DeathWatch Report recorded 48 horses killed in NSW in the 2023/24 racing year. In January 2025 a GIPA request confirmed the true number of horses killed to be 2.8 times higher: Last year at least 140 racehorses were killed from racing in NSW alone.
Statistically, one in 75 Thoroughbreds who raced in NSW were killed from racing.
“The public have been deceived and I’m not surprised the industry didn’t want this data to be made public. The true number of horse deaths directly from racing is a devastating 140 in just 1 year. This is outrageous and exposes just how dangerous horse racing is,” said the Hon. Emma Hurst MLC, Animal Justice Party.
Similar sentiments are shared by Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens & Spokesperson for Animal Welfare:
“The shocking GIPA findings expose the brutal reality of the horse racing industry—something we have long known and why we have been fighting to shut it down. Behind the glamour and gambling profits lies a system built on cruelty, where horses are pushed to their limits, suffer horrific injuries, and die both on and off tracks.”
Sydney activist and NSW spokesperson for CPR, Ralph Graham, said:
“We are devastated to find that the NSW Racing industry has let this many horses die directly from racing without disclosing it to the public. This bloodbath has got to stop.”
View the full report of the GIPA findings here.
For the past 12 years, since CPR conducted their first DeathWatch Report, CPR has been campaigning to make the racing industry publish the number of horses who die as a direct cause of racing. The true number of horses that has now been revealed through the GIPA request, is likely the reason why the racing industry has continued to refuse to publicly disclose the full death toll.
“When it comes to the staggering number of deaths on racetracks, the racing industry simply doesn’t care—and neither do the two major parties. They pocket donations from gambling companies and ignore the suffering, or worse, cover it up,” said Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi.
“The uncomfortable truth is, horse racing kills. If you’re gambling on a racehorse, you’re gambling on their life,” AJP Emma Hurst MLC said.
Protest at Rosehill Racecourse on the Golden Slipper Race Day 22nd March
Together with other animal advocacy groups CPR will be demonstrating at the Golden Slipper tomorrow Saturday and will be highlighting the news about the true number of horses killed from racing in NSW.
“No other sport in the world would allow one of their athletes to be killed every 2.6 days like racehorses are in NSW. On Saturday, people are coming out to say ‘enough is enough’,” said CPR NSW spokesperson Ralph Graham.
The racing industry must take the welfare of racehorses seriously and minimise the risk of injury on track by taking measures such as:
1. Pre-race scanning of all horses (as is the case with horses competing in the Melbourne Spring Carnival when public attention is high).
2. The banning of instruments used to force horses into submission such as the whip, tongue ties, spurs and painful bits.
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