Kameko

My name is Kameko, and I am record-breaker, a champion, and the father of children I’ll never meet. 

I’ve just turned 9 years old, but my life has felt very long so far. I was taken from my mother when I was an infant to be put into training, and at just 2 years old my racing ‘career’ began. I was a flat racing horse, which means I didn’t have to face the danger of fences and hurdles like other horses, but that doesn’t mean my world is a kind one. 

They taught me to go fast, so that’s what I did. In 2020 I became the fastest ever winner of the 2,000 Guineas and without knowing it I sealed my fate as a breeding stallion. 

The next year I was sent to stud, where I’ve been ever since. A constant stream of mares is brought to me to ‘cover’. She’s tied down as I mount her, then I’m taken away and not long after the whole process is repeated with a different mare. 

It shouldn’t be like this. Horses like to choose our partners. We court each other, stallions prancing to get a mare’s attention, and then coming in for an affectionate nuzzle before they mate. Afterwards we can live together as a herd, not separated off to live in separate stables, alone and unloved. 

My children are often sold before they’re even born – before they can climb to their feet and open their eyes their fates are sealed like mine was. They will be taken from their mothers and made to run. 

There is no way out for horses like us. We either run so fast that we become too valuable, and our future is to have our bodies used for breeding, or we don’t run fast enough and we’re discarded. I wish I could run one last time – away from the ropes and the harnesses that constrain us to a life of sexual servitude. People thought I was fast in 2020 when I broke the record, but I would run so much faster if I could run to freedom. 

My name is Kameko. I am someone.