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How many horses have died at the Cheltenham Festival since 2000? 76 individuals who valued their lives. That’s more than an average of three per year.
Horses are raced to the death so that jockeys, owners, and trainers can collect prize money, and spectators can experience a few seconds of fleeting excitement. Horses are not servants, athletes, or willing participants in the races. Help PETA end this cruel waste of life – urge these companies to stop sponsoring the Cheltenham Festival.
What Happens at Cheltenham Festival?
At the Cheltenham Festival, skittish horses are forced to run up to three miles at breakneck speeds while tackling up to 22 huge fences. The course is designed to be difficult to draw in the crowds.
Horses pushed to race may suffer from heart attacks, bleeding from their lungs, and broken bones. At the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, Highland Hunter and Ose Partir were euthanised after suffering fatal injuries from falls. Malinello died in 2023, and four horses were euthanised at the 2022 event after suffering serious injuries.
Racing Kills Horses
It is estimated that nearly 3,000 horses have died in UK horse racing events since 2007 – and that’s just on the course itself. Horses who can’t run fast enough are often discarded like used betting slips – handed over to rescue charities, left to languish in fields, shot at stables, or sold for slaughter.
RTÉ’s documentary Horses - Making a Killing revealed that equines were hit with pipes until they collapsed at Ireland’s major horse slaughterhouse. Of those killed, 71% were thoroughbreds from the racing industry, many of whom had been raced in the UK. Some were killed just days after their last race; then, their body parts were sold to the meat trade in Europe. PETA has documented how some individuals endure a terrifying journey to South Korea to be violently killed and sold for meat.