At least four horses used at the Listowel racing festival last month are now known to have died.

Confirmed dead following the 18-24 September 2022 “Harvest Festival” are:

- 4-year-old horse Only Sky who weakened and finished 8th in a race at Listowel Racecourse on 19 September.

- 10-year-old horse Rock Road who fell and suffered a fatal injury on 21 September during the 3-mile “Guinness Kerry National Handicap Chase” race.

Two horses used at Listowel on 23 September are also dead:

- 5-year-old Longhouse Force who fell in the 3-mile “Guinness Handicap Hurdle” race
and
- 10-year-old Krujers Girl who was pulled up after a “bad mistake”.

Race reports reveal disturbing details about several other horses used in the week-long festival.

- "Inside Job" weakened in a race and was found to have "burst a blood vessel"
- "Watch The Weather" (carrying Rachael Blackmore) was pulled up in a race. A vet reported that the horse "had a distended left-fore knee and had superficial cuts to both front legs post race"
- "Come On Du Berlais" (carrying Davy Russell) weakened during a race. According to a vet, the horse had "a small cut on her right hind stifle"
- "What Path" was pulled up during a race, with the jockey saying that the horse "did not handle today's going" and a vet noting that the horse was "clinically abnormal post race"
- "Theonewedreamof" - stopped quickly in a race. A vet reported that the horse was "clinically abnormal"
- "Uncle Phil" was pulled up in a race. The jockey said the horse "made an abnormal respiratory noise in running", with a vet adding that the animal was "blowing hard post race".
- "Diliymi" was, according to a vet report, "lame post race"
- "Ruler Of The River" got upset in the stalls
- "Finsceal Na Mara" was a non-runner due to being "lame"
- "The Little Yank" fell heavily
- "Sootability" - before the start of the race, this horse "got kicked"
- "Kilashee" was "unruly at the post, whipped round start, unseated rider"

At least four horses were also confirmed dead following last year's 2021 Listowel Harvest festival.

The festival has been described as “one of the most important weeks in the racing calendar” by Horse Racing Ireland, the taxpayer-funded body which has received €1,240,104,981 (€1.24 billion) in state aid since 2021. HRI has been allocated another €72,800,000 in Budget 2023.

HRI channels massive amounts of its funding into cruel foxhunts in the form of point-to-point racing grants. In the past 10 years, hunts have received more than €10 million for their racing activities – funding which is also sustaining the hunts’ animal cruelty.

The horses who died at Listowel are among a growing list of racing victims. Sickening Horse Racing Ireland statistics show that over 1,300 horses have lost their lives at racecourses and point-to-point races here since 2012. These figures do not include the horses killed in training or the thousands who do not make the grade and are destroyed behind-the-scenes.

Thousands of race horses have been sent to slaughter, including 1,105 in 2021 and over 300 so far this year.

The slaughter statistics were uncovered by Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit-Solidarity) following Dail Questions to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue. The Minister confirmed that between 2016 and 2022, 13,484 thoroughbred horses were slaughtered at Department-approved slaughter facilities in Ireland. See below for more details.

Thousands more have been exported to the UK for slaughter – as revealed in the shocking BBC documentary “The Dark Side of Horse Racing” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlpQhJFd5Bo

Horses are also being killed during races in the UK. Since 2007, 2,508 horses have lost their lives at UK racecourses, many of them Irish. The victims include horses who suffered broken necks, horses destroyed after breaking legs and horses who collapsed with heart attacks during and after races.

ACTION ALERT

Don’t bet on horse racing or attend racing events.

There are renewed calls on the government to stop supporting racing. Since 2001, the Irish Government has granted more than €1.5 Billion of scarce public funds to horse and greyhound racing, i.e. €1,240 million for horse racing and €309 million for greyhound racing.

Contact Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and demand an end to state funding to these two gambling activities which cause much suffering and death to animals. Tell them to redirect the funds to the many deserving charities, health/homeless/environmental groups, sports clubs, animal rescue centres, etc crying out for funding.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar
Telephone: +353 (0)1-640 3133
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar

Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Email: paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie; minister@finance.gov.ie
Tel: 01 604 5626
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaschalDonohoe/
Tweet to @Paschald

SAMPLE LETTER
(If you have time, please write your own personal letter)

Dear Deputy,

I am writing to urge you to please oppose any further funding to horse and greyhound racing.

The Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund has channelled more than €1.5 Billion of scarce public funds into the gambling activities over the past two decades.

Much of the money given to horse racing ends up as prize money in the pockets of wealthy horse owners and trainers, while the funding for greyhound racing continues despite revelations about obscene cruelty and killing and calls for a ban.

If you saw the “RTE Investigates: Greyhounds running for their lives” documentary, you will understand why there should be absolutely no support given to this shameful industry. The programme revealed that around 6,000 greyhounds are killed every year simply because they are not fast enough to win. We were shown horrifying scenes of greyhounds being delivered to knackeries to be shot in the head. One dog was seen writhing on the ground in agony as his merciless owner drove away https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM

The programme also highlighted the illegal practice of doping dogs to make them run faster or slower to influence the outcomes of races. Also shown were greyhounds with their ears chopped off or burned with acid (to remove identity tattoos before being dumped) and the hellholes that await Irish greyhounds exported to China and Pakistan.

A RED C opinion poll commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports and Greyhound Action Ireland shows that two out of every three Irish adults want the government to stop funding greyhound racing [66% Agree, 16% Disagree, 18% Don’t Know] Petitions urging the government to stop the funding have attracted over 420,000 signatures.

It is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE that public funds have been pumped into horse and greyhound racing. It is time for this to be stopped and for the money to be redirected to the many deserving charities, health/homeless/environmental groups, sports clubs, animal rescue centres, etc crying out for funding.

Thank you. I look forward to your positive response.

Yours sincerely,

[Name/Address]

Horse deaths at Irish racecourses

2022: 47 deaths (up to May 2022)
2021: 113 deaths
2020: 65 deaths
2019: 102 deaths
2018: 111 deaths
2017: 88 deaths
2016: 83 deaths
2015: 89 deaths
2014: 99 deaths
2013: 121 deaths
2012: 82 deaths

Horse deaths at foxhunt-organised point-to-point races

2021/2022: 19 deaths (up to May 2022)
2020/2021: 23 deaths (HRI previously stated that up to 11 May 2021, there had been 28 fatalities)
2019/2020: 13 deaths
2018/2019: 38 deaths
2017/2018: 28 deaths
2016/2017: 32 deaths
2015/2016: 36 deaths
2014/2015: 30 deaths
2013/2014: 42 deaths
2012/2013: 49 deaths

Horses slaughtered at Department-approved slaughter facilities in Ireland

2022 (to-date): 305
2021: 1,105
2020: 1,549
2019: 2,218
2018: 2,526
2017: 2,829
2016: 2,952

Irish Government grants to horse racing

2001 €47,110,330
2002 €54,452,651
2003 €51,348,800
2004 €53,531,200
2005 €54,680,000
2006 €56,047,000
2007 €58,539,000
2008 €61,028,800
2009 €54,502,000
2010 €47,411,200
2011 €45,830,000
2012 €45,032,000
2013 €44,016,000
2014 €43,376,000
2015 €54,400,000
2016 €59,200,000
2017 €64,000,000
2018 €64,000,000
2019 €67,200,000
2020 €67,200,000
2021 €76,800,000
2022 €70,400,000

Total: €1,240,104,981 / €1,240 million / €1.24 billion