Notorious Cheltenham Racecourse Claims Two More Victims
19 November 2007
 http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/pr_horse/ALL/1702


Two more horses have been killed at Cheltenham. On Saturday, 17 November Granit Jack - the Paul Nicholls-trained five-year-old gelding - fell and broke his neck at the notorious downhill second-last fence. Dismissed as ‘bad luck’ by the course clerk, Simon Cliasse, it appears that no changes are to be made to this fence.

The other fatality was the six-year-old Willyanwoody (also trained by Nicholls) who broke his back and was destroyed.

Racing ‘connections’ talk hypocritically of their ‘grief’, and yet defend the carnage as an ‘accident’ or a ‘fact of jump racing’.

It is a fact that whilst punters and the industry demand the thrill of difficult and dangerous racing conditions, horses will continue to be killed.



LEGAL ACTION URGED TO STOP RACECOURSE CARNAGE
November 21,2007
 http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/25946/Legal-action-urged-to-stop-racecourse-carnage

A STARTLING 150 horses will have died on British racecourses in just 12 months by March next year.

And urgent moves were being made last night to stop the carnage by enforcing the 2006 Animal Welfare Act following two more deaths at Cheltenham in one afternoon at the weekend.

Racing chiefs were also angrily accused of "deliberately concealing" the annual number and warned that legal action could soon be taken if nothing was done to reduce the fatalities.

Animal Aid's racing consultant Dene Stansall stressed that a horse was dying every 2.4 days either during a race, or shortly afterwards.

His alarming revelation comes as the racing world recovers from the shock of seeing two of trainer Paul Nicholls' talented horses, Granit Jack and Willyanwoody, crash to their deaths at Cheltenham last Saturday. Both crumpled at notorious downhill fences, with Granit Jack breaking his neck, and a tired Willyanwoody breaking his back.

Simon Claisse, Cheltenham's clerk of course, is due to discuss the fatalities with Richard Linley, the British Horseracing Authority's senior course inspector, in the next few days. Both will inevitably recall the 2006 Festival when 10 horses died, though the last fence on the New Course has since been resited. Stansall added that 104 horses had now died since mid March this year, including eight fatalities at Stratford and four in one day at Wincanton.

He said: "Animal Aid closely monitors the welfare of all racehorses, and we're deeply concerned that people in authority are deliberately hiding the true, appalling facts by refusing to give specific numbers.