Another horse dies….

National campaign group, Animal Aid, has called for a ban on the three-day Grand National Meeting after The Long Mile became the 54th horse to be killed at the event since the year 2000.

The seven-year-old was killed in the Grand National after he broke a hind leg.

Says Animal Aid’s Director, Iain Green:

‘It’s high time that this repulsive spectacle was banned. Despite the racing authorities and TV commentators attempting to brush this carnage and loss of life under the carpet, the public will turn their backs on this industry that treats horses as if they were mere objects, to be exploited for money and run into the ground.’

Read Animal Aid’s list of all horses who have died at the Grand National Meeting since 2000, including their details.

Background facts for Editors

• Animal Aid has been at the forefront of exposing, and campaigning against, the racing industry for more than two decades.
• In 2007, Animal Aid launched Race Horse Deathwatch – the only public record of the names and details of horses who were killed on all British racecourses, compiled by Animal Aid’s meticulous research. 2,214 horses have been killed on British racecourses (as of 10 April 2021) since it was launched.
• Read Animal Aid’s Horseracing Consultant, Dene Stansall, analysis of the issues surrounding the Grand National.
• Animal Aid’s campaign to ban the use of the whip has been backed by 95 MPs to date.
• Animal Aid’s campaign, which calls for the creation of an independent body to be responsible for race horse welfare, led to a Parliamentary debate on race horse welfare in 2018. Animal Aid continues to campaign for the British Horseracing Authority to be stripped of its responsibility for race horse welfare, due to the shocking rate of race horse deaths and injuries.

Contact Animal Aid’s Horseracing Consultant, Dene Stansall, for comments or further information: 01732 364546