Deathwatch
For a one year period from 1 August 2019 to 31 July 2020, the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has collected data from the stewards reports from every state and territory in Australia, compiling a detailed report of the horses who have died in racing and the reasons why – something that is not made available to the public each year by the industry itself.
Click here to read our Deathwatch 2020 Report.
Key Findings
- 116 horses killed on track for a number of reasons most commonly for catastrophic front limb injury (59)
- On average one horse will die on Australian racetracks every 3 days
- 10 horses died from cardiac causes
- 9 horses died from bleeds
- The state with the highest recorded deaths was NSW (43) followed by VIC (31) and QLD (25)
- 45 of the horses that were killed had been raced as a 2-year-old
- 9 horses were only 2-years-old when they died on track
- 5 horses are still listed as ‘active’ on the Racing Australia website at the time of writing, even though some have been dead for almost a year
The 12 month period of data collection ends on the Horse’s Birthday (August 1) and is released in the first month of Spring. This is also known as the racing year.
Here’s why:
What is the horse's birthday?
The Horse’s Birthday is traditionally a day of celebration in Australian Racing; however with so many welfare issues and racehorse deaths each year, CPR believes it should be used as a day of reflection and consideration about how racing in Australia can be made safer for its equine athletes who are not given a choice to compete.
The first month of Spring marks the beginning of the racing industry’s busiest period, Spring Racing Carnival. It’s important to step back at this time and consider what is happening to racehorses year-round, when racing is not as largely celebrated.
We believe that the racing of underdeveloped horses in two year old racing (which often predisposes them to further injury if they do not break down at that age), the relentless beatings of over-tired horses with the whip and the placement of hurdles in front of horses in a group, at a fast pace in jumps racing are all welfare issues which contribute to a high number of deaths and injuries in racing.
This Deathwatch Report serves as an educational tool to the Australian public on the reality of racing horses for profits and reminds them that horse racing kills. Download the full report here.
For previous Deathwatch reports...
Click here to download Deathwatch 2019
Click here to download Deathwatch 2018
Click here to download Deathwatch 2017
Click here to download Deathwatch 2016
Click here for our video tribute to the horses in 2019 and 2018
