Racing today

[splashgirl45]

Well that has put an end to me ever watching racing again. I’d stopped for a while as even flat horses were breaking legs now Gold Dancer being whipped to finish a race just shows what money does to people , that jockey must have felt something wrong , luckily I didn’t see that race but reading about it has sickened me … so I won’t be watching ever again

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

One of the first things shown on itv? A 100k bet placed in the GN. Obscene

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

I would like to see the whip banned, other than for safety. Seeing it used at the end of a long distance race is very unpalatable. There's the odd hands and heels race and the finish looks much nicer

 

[Jenko109]

Oh no

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

Sickening broken leg there

 

[Kadastorm]

I’m glad I missed it and I think my anxiety cannot cope with watching anymore. I have enjoyed racing for many years but there seems to be an increase in broken legs and then incidents such as yesterday. I haven’t enjoyed it over the last year or more so it looks like my racing days may be over.

 

[Escapade]

R.I.P Get on George. It's going to be a long day

 

[bonny]

The Skeltons are on fire !

 

[MyBoyChe]

Re Gold Dancer, unless Ive missed something I dont recall ITV asking jockey of trainer any searching questions about this incident, just a lot of congratulations about how wonderful they are. Ive never ridden a horse at racing pace but I do ride and Ive owned horses for a long time. I would have expected a jockey to pull up if a horse had that sort of fall anywhere in a race, regardless of how it felt or where it was in the race. Horses are not designed to splay their back legs out behind them and I would have expected it be pulled up even if then proved, by some miracle, to be OK. You cannot profess to put welfare to the fore and then behave like that. As others have said, incidents like this just provide ammunition for the antis (in this case justified) and all involved in our sport need to think about this, even if it means losing out on a few quid

 

[myheartinahoofbeat]

This whole incident upsets me so much. Poor, poor horse didn't deserve that. It's horrific.

Racing was doing so well with the Constutution Hill Decision. The owner and trainer were at last listening to their horse. They came to the conclusion that they couldn't ask him to go over hurdles again. However, importantly, I like to believe the weight of public opinion had some part in this too. I'm sure it did with NH. Huge crowds came to watch CH run on the all weather. It was clear the public loved him and supported the decision.

Roll on to last Friday. Apparently now the public don't know what they are talking about and can't possibly understand unless they were sat on poor Gold Dancer at that moment. No consequences for the jockey. Racing closes ranks, enquiry is a whitewash.

You can't claim to be all about welfare and public opinion but then only when it suits you.