Rostropovich Injured at the Melbourne Cup
It’s tragically predictable: a horse has been sent to Werribee Equine Centre with a fractured pelvis after the 2019 Melbourne Cup.
Four-year-old gelding Rostropovich finished the race last and unable to bear weight.
The reality is that horses are injured, and often killed, on racetracks all the time.
Melbourne Cup’s History
In 2013, Verema was killed after snapping a bone in her leg.
In 2014, Admire Rakti collapsed and died in his stall after a race and Araldo broke a leg and was euthanised.
In 2015, Red Cadeaux broke his left foreleg, was rushed to the vet for surgery and was euthanised some days later.
In 2016, Regal Monarch died after a dramatic mid-race fall.
In 2018, The Cliffsofmoher was killed after fracturing his right shoulder.
And now in 2019, Rostropovich is rushed to the vet with a fractured pelvis.
Abuse and Abattoirs
It’s not just “bad luck” that kills horses used for racing. Before they’ve even finished maturing, these 500-kilogram animals are forced to race at breakneck speeds while being whipped and pushed past their limits, supported on ankles as small as those of humans.
During last year’s racing season, 122 horses died on Australian racecourses. That’s an average of more than two per week.
The ABC’s 7.30 programme recently revealed that around 300 horses went through just one facility, Meramist Abattoir in Queensland, during just 22 days of observation. Australian horses also sometimes end up in overseas abattoirs. In June, a PETA exposé revealed that some 3,000 Australian horses and their offspring had been cast off by the Australian racing industry and killed for meat in South Korea.
Times Are Changing
Thankfully, the truth is getting out and fewer people are attending horse races than ever before.
This year’s the Melbourne Cup Carnival had it’s lowest attendance in over two decades. Meanwhile the crowds of protesters grew larger and louder.
Efforts this year to draw in crowds have included spending obscene amounts of money to lure performers such as Taylor Swift – who turned down the gig after hearing from us and thousands of her fans. The world is waking up to the cruel sham that’s been sold as entertainment, and Australians are turning away from the spectacle in droves.
The Melbourne Cup is no longer “the race that stops the nation”, as people stop tuning in around the country to watch yet another horse die.
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