Is horse racing, and especially the Grand National, in which two horses died last year, too risky? Former jockey Richard Pitman and activist Dene Stansall talk it out
Five horses were killed at last month's Cheltenham Festival, renewing claims that racing is dangerous and cruel. Former jockey and BBC commentator Richard Pitman and Dene Stansall, consultant for Animal Aid, talk it through on Grand National day. By Emine Saner
Dene Stansall: In the last five years 812 horses have died on British racecourses, and fundamental to that is the fact the industry regulates itself and has control of welfare issues.
Richard Pitman: Can you put that number in perspective?
DS: You've got about 15,000 horses in training at any one time, and half of them leave racing every year, so let's say about 37,000 over five years.
RP: Let's multiply that a bit – by how many times they run. That dilutes the equation. Surely the RSPCA has quite an input? I've seen their racing man all round the country.
DS: On the last set of changes to whip rules [the British Horseracing Authority brought in new rules limiting use of the whip last year, but has since amended them to give stewards more discretion], the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare were both left out of the discussions.
RP: On the subject of the whip – when I was a jockey, my trainer said: "If they won't go for two slaps, they won't go for 102." He is indicative of the majority of trainers I know – they love the horses.
DS: They may well, but jockeys have to get the most from their horses, and they are much more prone to use the whip than in the past, especially in flat racing.
RP: The whips on the flat are smaller than jumping whips; they are so pathetic. I disagree with you about jockeys. It went through a bad period and that's why whip rules have been in force of late, and even though I'm an ex-jockey I'm quite in favour of no whip. But they are adamant they need it for correction purposes, if a horse is going to run out at a hurdle – although I've never witnessed anyone stop a horse from running out by giving it a tap.
DS: I understand you should carry a whip – say the horse is bolting into the crowd and you've got no means of control – but jockeys use them for encouragement. We saw it with Jason Maguire last year – it's a win at all cost [Maguire received a five-day ban for excessive use of the whip on his winning horse Ballabriggs]. To go back to the Grand National, should we be asking these horses that come from flat-bred stock to run over four and a half miles?
RP: Red Rum was bred to be a five-furlong sprinter.
DS: He was an anomaly. We see exhausted horses finishing races. Hear the Echo dropped dead at the end of the National in 2009 because he was pushed too much. Last year Dooneys Gate fell at Becher's Brook [the most difficult jump in the Grand National]. It wasn't the drop that killed him, it was the horse who came behind that broke his spine. This is what the racing industry won't make clear to the public.
RP: Do you advocate having three runners in the Grand National?
DS: I'd advocate fewer than 40. It is not getting safer. When a horse dies on the racecourse it isn't an accident; there is a reason for it. The racing industry says: "It's one of those sad things, it's a risky sport." Gottany O's [the horse that died on Thursday in the three-day Grand National meeting], was a four-year-old, was a four-year-old, he's had 17 races, five over hurdles, in 14 months.
RP: That's unusual, though.
DS: That would ring alarm bells for me. The BHA needs to look at this and ask why this horse has died. The public want to know, and we need transparency.
RP: Would you advocate having no racing at all?
DS: Racing isn't going to go away. Under its current form, if it disappeared it wouldn't bother me – and I'm an Aintree bookie's grandson. It's a conveyor belt: they go in at one end, they race, they come out the other, and there is little provision for horses once they finish. The Grand National is worth £900,000 to the winner – more than the industry puts in to rehabilitate or retrain horses.
RP: You're not right. There is a big wave of retraining race horses. Racing people love their horses. I've only got a small operation now, but I've found homes for 10 horses a year.
DS: Sanctuaries are full because of over-breeding. There needs to be regulation of how many horses are bred. Many in the industry are very blase – they say: "We know about racing, don't interfere," but that isn't good enough.
RP: I've been with horses all my life and I've never seen a horse that hasn't lived really well. Horses are asked to do very little – six races a year. I have seen and looked after so many and I can say I'm happy they have had a good life. I had a horse that broke its hock – its elbow in human terms – and it was put in plaster, but as it got up from the anaesthetic it fell over backwards and snapped its spine. The owners were a syndicate – they weren't rich people – and they stuck with this horse and it slowly got better. Although that horse will never run again, they were happy to do that, so it's hard to generalise.
DS: Was the hock problem due to racing?
RP: Yes, it was from a fall.
DS: So are we asking too much of these horses that they have to live with injuries for the rest of their lives?
RP: So no racing, no jumping?
DS: If we look at the world thoroughbred population, most horses run on the flat. Jumping comes a long way down the list – it's predominantly French, British and Irish, so jump racing is not a global sport. It will be vulnerable to legislation once politicians get to know what these problems are, and I think it is a target for abolition in the future.
RP: I see that, but I hope it won't happen. My life would be a lot duller without the racehorse. Horses are bred to race and in the National, when they fall, they can't wait to get up and carry on.
DS: Because they're herd animals and they want to stay with the others. But that's a problem. Graphic Approach died as a result of running loose [in 2007], and we saw McKelvey running loose and breaking his back [2008]. Loose horses at the Grand National may want to run, but they are still vulnerable. It's the nature of that race. That race is dangerous. It is far too demanding.
RP: In my time, I've seen the powers-that-be alter racing. When I was riding you could ride on a surface that would be described in the paper as "hard". You can't now. Look at the bypassing of the Grand National fences so loose horses can go around them – that's an innovation. Having ridden (rather pathetically) in six Grand Nationals, I love the race and I've ridden horses who can't wait to jump round there. It has a unique character. You cannot make a horse jump if it doesn't want to. There is this view that jockeys are whipping them over the fences, but they're not. You're not stronger than a horse. I think most of the horses enjoy jumping and those that don't won't go back a second time. Nobody likes to see tired horses, but you watch Paula Radcliffe at the end of a marathon – that is part of competition, getting to the bottom of your barrel.