2017-05-24
PENNICUIK (Southern Metropolitan) — On 2 May Mr Purcell made a members statement in support of the Warrnambool May Racing Carnival, a three-day racing carnival in which he said the Grand Annual Steeplechase, which is over 5500 metres and has a world record 33 jumps, is a highlight. I have to disagree with Mr Purcell; I find that type of race to be nothing short of animal abuse.
Only the very next day, on 3 May, six-year-old Bring Back suffered a broken shoulder in a jumps event at Warrnambool and was killed. Two horses died at Warrnambool last year. Last weekend, on 21 May, during the second hurdle at Casterton, Wee Frankie fell and, I understand, broke his neck. The racing carnival at Casterton last weekend was nothing less than a debacle. Over three races there were only 14 starters, and only seven of those starters finished — four horses fell, two pulled up and one, Wee Frankie, died. On 15 April Wheeler Fortune was euthanased on the track after snapping its right foreleg at Oakbank in South Australia. Footage of that incident is just sickening.
Forty-one horses in Victoria have died over the last five years. It is a continuing indictment of the government of Victoria and the government of South Australia that they continue to allow this abuse and carnage on racetracks every year.